Emerald Roses
by aonalion
Summary: Kaiba never considered a business partner, much less a partner in something else, but that was long before a certain green-eyed man managed to sneak his way into his life.
1. Emerald Eyes

**A/N:** Here it is! My attempt at trying to revive the Kaiba X Otogi-fanbase! 8D (The last time anyone posted Mastershipping was in 2008...)

Two things: This is purely based on the anime, so you don't know anything about Otogi's past. (Foreshadowing...) Also, I'm trying to keep it T-rated, but I'm not exactly sure where the lines goes, so tell me if I overstep it xD

* * *

><p>Kaiba had always been alone.<p>

Of course he had Mokuba, but it was always Mokuba who depended on _him_, not the other way around. Kaiba, of course, liked it that way. If you started depending on people, sooner or later they would let you down. Sometimes you could fix whatever mistake they made, and sometimes you couldn't – but in the end it was always _you_ who had to do all the work. So it was easier to just work alone to begin with.

Yugi Motou and his little geek squad had always bothered him for that reason; they thought you _had_ to do things together to become stronger and to be able to survive, but in the end that only served in bringing down your individual progress. Kaiba was glad he didn't have to put up with all of their annoying ideas and whims; it must've been years since he saw any of them. He definitely did not miss them. Not the slightest. He wasn't even wondering how Yugi was managing without the Pharaoh or if Jonouchi ever turned out to be a great duelist after all.

Though technically he wasn't working _completely_ alone. He still had his very own, very big, company with hundreds of employees in several different countries. There was of course a chance one or two of them could screw up, but they all knew he didn't look lightly on mistakes. The bigger position you had, the bigger mistake, the worse punishment you would get.

If Kaiba ever made a mistake, the consequences would be huge, and the price he would have to pay would be enormous. That was why he made sure he didn't screw up – and it was also the reason he didn't get a business partner, who of course would have the same position as himself.

It was also why he never gave love a single thought, much less marriage.

* * *

><p>It had been a normal day, a day just like any other.<p>

Kaiba had gotten up at half past six in the morning, gotten dressed and drunk a cup of coffee for breakfast. Now that Mokuba wasn't living at home anymore he didn't have to worry about what his brother would eat (even though he still did) and he didn't have to worry about Mokuba worrying about what _he_ ate. He took his car to Kaiba Corp. – he drove himself, since he had gotten tired of the driver always running late.

But right then he had noticed something was wrong. Or not so much wrong as _off_; there was something going on at the office and he didn't know what it was. People were whispering, exchanging looks and avoiding his eyes – more than usual anyway.

However, he decided to ignore it, since whatever it was would become clear sooner or later. People never managed to keep secrets around him for long, especially if it was something important. If it wasn't something important, then… well, it didn't really matter.

During the day – of which he spent most of his time behind his desk, working on trying to get everything working before the opening of his new school, Duel Academia – it became more and more annoying, and more and more frustrating. Even his manager was oddly nervous and quiet around him – and he couldn't even get a decent answer out of his secretary!

He always ate his lunch in his office, and it was always prepared by the chef of the restaurant at the bottom of the building. It was his secretary who brought it to him, and he (the secretary was male since Kaiba found that whenever he employed a woman she would always end up trying to flirt with him, even though he would be lying if he said there weren't guys who tried to flirt with him) was supposed to bring it up to his office every day at one PM sharp.

Today, he was late. By nearly a quarter.

Kaiba tapped his fingers against the desk and kept glancing towards the clock located over the door. His secretary was _never_ late. This had to have something to do with whatever it was going on around the office. He wasn't used to people keeping secrets from him.

Just as he stood up and was about to go out there and yell at someone for not bringing his lunch the door opened and his secretary entered. He was a couple of years younger than Kaiba himself, with short black hair, dark eyes and a suit – and overall he looked fairly average.

"Terribly sorry for being so late, Mr. Kaiba," he said and bowed for a second. "It won't happen again."

"No, it won't happen again, because if it does you're fired, Okajima." He was exaggerating; he would never fire someone simply for being late (unless is happened _several_ times) but he was irritated, and he was hungry.

"There was an incident on my way up here, so sorry," Okajima bowed yet again and went up to Kaiba, who sat down behind his desk again. "And the chef was busier than usual."

Kaiba decided to ignore the hint that they needed to employ more people down in the kitchen and opened the package containing his food instead. It turned out to be sushi, which he always got the days his chef was busy.

"What exactly is going on around the office? Everyone seems so… frustrating," Kaiba sighed, almost growled, and broke apart the chopsticks. Okajima twitched slightly at the sound.

"Well, you see… the thing is, Mr. Kaiba… We-we don't really…" his secretary started to stutter and Kaiba looked up at him, one eyebrow raised and a piece of nigirizushi half-way to his mouth.

"Yes?"

"I-I think it would be better if you spoke to your m-manager!" Okajima finally blurted out, bowed one final time and then hurried out of there. The door shut without a sound behind him.

Kaiba frowned. What in the world was going on? The last time his employees had acted this way around him was when Mokuba had failed one of his tests – his employees had known while Kaiba himself hadn't, and they had all been terrified of telling him. It was a couple of years ago but he still remembered it clearly; how he got madder than he probably would have been if they had simply told him from the beginning. Of course he wasn't mad at Mokuba, just a bit disappointed.

Something couldn't have happened to him, could it? Kaiba felt a small twitch of nervousness in the pit of his stomach but quickly told himself to calm down. If something that bad had happened then his secretary and/or manager would tell him immediately. He trusted them enough to believe that.

His manager, Matsumoto Aimi, arrived only minutes later, but to Kaiba, that was still too long. He was half-way through his lunch when she showed up, politely knocking at the door before she entered, which was more than Okajima had done. She was carrying the same notebook and pen as always, and wearing a simple black dress, while her long blonde hair was tied back in a knot.

"Mr. Kaiba," she simply said as a greeting. Kaiba didn't answer her; he was busy with his food. But that was alright; she had been his manager for more than three years and she knew more or less exactly how to act around him. "I… I know you want to know why everyone around the office has been acting the way they have today," Matsumoto said and came closer. "And the truth is it's because of something that was in the newspapers this morning."

"Oh?" He put away the chopsticks and looked at her over his clasped hands, a small frown of concentration on his face.

"Yes…" she hesitated, which Kaiba wasn't used to her doing. She was normally as straight-forward and sharp as Kaiba himself, which was why he had chosen her to be his manager to begin with. "It's actually been in several newspapers during the past weeks, but up until now it's only been in smaller, more gossip-focused magazines. Then this morning it was in one of the bigger newspapers, a several pages long reportage… I'm surprised you haven't seen it yourself yet –"

"_But what is it?_" Kaiba finally snapped. "For the love of Ra, Matsumoto, _what?_"

She closed her eyes for a moment.

"I'll go get a copy of the newspaper in question."

And with that, she left Kaiba sitting behind his desk with a small frown of confusion and irritation on his face. What could be so bad his own manager couldn't even tell him herself? Although, he had a feeling it was just like the incident with Mokuba's test; they were probably all over-reacting, afraid of how he might react. And it was true he hadn't read the newspapers that morning, which he thoroughly regretted now – but he had been a bit stressed and thought that he could read them when he got back home.

After nothing but moments, Matsumoto came back holding a newspaper. She probably got it from one of the employees just outside of his office, which was why it hadn't taken long. She came up to his desk and put down the magazine in front of him with the outmost care. Then she stepped back a few steps and let him read it under silence.

'KAIBA SETO – THE REAL MAN BEHIND THE COLD FAÇADE' it said with enormous letters all over the front page, along with a picture of said man. Kaiba felt an amused smirk tug at the corners of his mouth; the facts in those articles were probably all wrong, just like they always were.

But when he actually started reading he found that whoever wrote the articles had done really thorough research; it seemed as if they had more or less charted his whole life ever since the Duelist Kingdom tournament.

There were facts about his and Yugi Motou's relationship, about his and Jonouchi's relationship, and about his and Pegasus' relationship, just to mention a few. There were records of all the duels he'd ever been in, even some of the more unknown ones; and there were complete lists of his decks and the cards he'd used. There were also charts of all the different Duel Disks he'd designed.

Kaiba couldn't help but feel a bit impressed – the person clearly knew what they were doing – and couldn't quite figure out what it was he was supposed to be upset about, until he reached the articles about his current life. Those were obviously written by someone else and were mostly speculations, even though some things might have been correct.

There was an article about his non-existing love life, where the author obviously had squeezed out every single bit of information from his sources and tried to make something out of them. The author more or less deemed Kaiba to be asexual, or at least he would have, if it wasn't for the fact that Kaiba – in his teens – always 'hung out with' (as the author had put it) with several boys his own age. Now, this was normally nothing odd, but the fact that Kaiba seemed to despise all of them made it a bit suspicious.

When Kaiba finally couldn't take it anymore he sighed, rolled his eyes and folded the newspaper neatly before putting it way. Matsumoto looked up to see his reaction, but she barely got one. Kaiba simply raised an eyebrow.

"Just what am I supposed to be upset about?" he wondered, only vaguely interested.

"… Did you read all of it?"

"No," Kaiba admitted. "I found it too unworthy of my attention."

Matsumoto smiled a little but walked up to him and took the newspaper, finding the article she obviously had been referring to. She read out loud:

"'Kaiba Seto has for long been considered to be asexual by the general population, much to many fangirls' disappointment, and those who won't agree believes that he's bisexual. The latter of these theories can be supported by the fact that he always seemed to fight a little too much with a certain Jonouchi Katsuya, whom we mentioned in a previous article.

But Mr. Jonouchi wasn't the only one who got Kaiba's attention at more than one occasion; there was also Otogi Ryuji, the notorious CEO of Dungeon Dice Monsters, who also was surrounded by various rumors concerning his sexual orientation. Now, several years later, it has been confirmed that he is in fact bisexual, and has been for quite some time. Perhaps Mr. Kaiba was aware of this earlier and had a romance with the other CEO?

We have tried to reach Mr. Kaiba for an interview, but every time he's said he's an extremely busy man and that he doesn't have time for 'nonsense like this', as he so politely put –'"

"I don't remember saying no to an interview?" Kaiba interrupted her. Matsumoto looked a bit guilty.

"No, I was always the one to say no. I assumed you wouldn't want to discuss your private life with any magazine, really. I'm sorry; I should've asked you first and it won't happen again."

"No, that's alright – I didn't want to. Thank you."

She smiled and nodded slightly; she really did know him. But then she got a bit more serious again and folded the newspaper without finish reading it.

"The point is that they go on like that for quite some time before coming to the interesting part; more or less all of the authors think that you should have some sort of partner – a business partner or even some sort of romantic relationship. I have to admit I have been thinking along the same lines, but I didn't tell you since I have no idea as of what you feel about these things." She paused for a moment. "Kaiba… if something should happen to you, to who have you bequeathed your possessions and this company?"

"Mokuba," Kaiba immediately answered.

"In that case I have two questions for you," Matsumoto said and leaned closer over the table, meeting Kaiba's slightly surprised eyes. "Do you honestly think Mokuba is ready for that, and do you honestly think he _wants_ to take over the company?"

Realization hit Kaiba like a punch in the stomach.

Mokuba would never want to take over the company. Just because Kaiba himself had started Kaiba Corp. at an extremely young age that didn't mean Mokuba wanted to do the same, if anything should ever happen to the brunet. In fact, since he had seen Kaiba work day and night for weeks at the time, he was probably even more against the idea of doing the same himself.

"You understand what I'm saying," Matsumoto continued when she saw Kaiba's eyes widen just a fraction. "This is only my personal opinion, but I honestly think you need some sort of business partner."

Kaiba glanced at her face for a moment and saw her expression; he suddenly got the feeling she had wanted to say that for a very long time now. But then he looked down at his hands and started tapping his fingers against the desk.

She definitely had a point. It wasn't as if he could force Mokuba to take over the company one day – Kaiba if anyone should know how important it was to be allowed to do what you wanted to. But the thought of a business partner… There mere thought made him frustrated; he could just imagine how annoying and unreliable a partner of any sort would be – all the mistakes they would make, and all the time he would have to put on fixing those mistakes.

He sighed.

"You do realize that if I were to have a business partner, they would have to be at my level both intellectual and stamina-wise?"

"I'm not sure that's physically possible, Mr. Kaiba," Matsumoto said with a small smile, which actually made Kaiba smirk a little as well. "But I realize what it means. Would you like me to start searching for suitable partners?"

Kaiba couldn't help but sigh again, rubbing his temples for a brief moment.

"Yes, I suppose. But keep it a secret, and don't tell more people than you have to."

"Of course not," she replied and started moving towards the door. Matsumoto stopped for a second, with her hand on the door-knob. "Both female and male?" she asked and the smile playing around the corners of her mouth told Kaiba she probably knew a little more than she was supposed to.

"… Sure, why not?"

* * *

><p>The first woman – or rather <em>girl<em>, she was one year younger than Kaiba – he met was the daughter of one of the retailers in the US. She was a redhead with a lot of freckles, and she seemed quite intelligent – the only real problem was that she was completely obsessed over the fact that she was with _the_ Kaiba Seto; _the _young CEO himself, _the_ billionaire. She was acting like a true fangirl, which was a shame since Kaiba could clearly notice her real potential underneath it.

The second woman was slightly older, and even more taciturn than Kaiba himself. She would have been beautiful if it wasn't for all the make-up she wore – it made her seem too old and it really didn't suit Kaiba's taste. (Even though he had to admit he wasn't quite sure as to what exactly his taste was, but he was certain this wasn't it.) Kaiba could barely get a word out of her, but from what he could tell she only did it to seem mysterious, and he quickly gave up on her as well.

He took the habit of meeting the person in his office first; then if he liked them he could take them out to dinner. Technically it wasn't a date, especially since he had to choose where to go carefully – if word got out he had been on what appeared to be a date the media would be all over it in an instant.

The third person he met was a man his age. Kaiba could never remember his name and referred to him – when he spoke to Matsumoto – as 'Okajima's big brother'. He was slender with messy black hair and dark eyes; and he was constantly stuttering and fiddling with his hands, a habit Kaiba couldn't take for too long. The only reason he managed to sit through their entire first meeting was because he knew 'Okajima's big brother' was the nephew of one of his main opponents – he didn't want them to get angry with him.

The fourth person was yet another fangirl, except this one was worse; she was a famous model used to attention and glamour – and she only wanted to go to the finest restaurant in Domino City where everyone could see her together with the young CEO. Kaiba had blatantly said 'no', and that was the end of that.

"Honestly, are you even trying anymore?" he asked Matsumoto once the model had left, but had no real anger in his voice.

"She seemed intelligent in the e-mail she sent me! I-I don't even know how that's possible, she…" Matsumoto looked up from the computer screen where she was obviously re-reading the mail. "She really was stupid. She must've had someone else to write the letter for her; there's no other explanation."

Kaiba couldn't help but smirk at how Matsumoto immediately agreed with him; except she wasn't doing it to be obsequious – she really did agree with him. Kaiba turned his head slightly and frowned, studying Matsumoto for a moment as she looked through her notebook. She was fairly smart. And good-looking. Except…

"Matsumoto, are you –?"

"Alright, there's one more man who scheduled a meeting today," she interrupted him but then looked up with a surprised expression. "Did you have a question?"

Kaiba quickly made up his mind.

"No, it's nothing. Just wait a few moments and then send him in when he's ready."

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba."

Kaiba went into his office again and sat down behind his desk, lightly resting his chin on his clasped hands. He couldn't take this for much longer; if he didn't find someone soon then he would give up, no matter what Matsumoto or anyone else said. He normally didn't give up so easily, or at all actually, but when it came to love and all that followed he was completely out of his own comfort zone.

A faint knocking on his door snapped him out of his inner musings, and he looked up. Matsumoto opened the door partly and stuck in her head.

"He's ready now, Mr. Kaiba," she said with a small smile he couldn't quite decipher.

"I told you to send him in," Kaiba said and couldn't keep the frustration away from his voice. Honestly, he just wanted to go home and be alone for the first time that week. Matsumoto nodded briefly and opened the door fully.

There was an extremely unexpected twitch of nervousness in the pit of his stomach as Kaiba met far too familiar emerald eyes appearing behind Matsumoto's shoulder. Memories came crashing down upon him like a wave – they didn't necessarily have anything to do directly with the person standing in front of him; they were simply memories of times passed.

Before Kaiba could do something, before he could even say something, Otogi Ryuji turned on his heel and vanished away from there just as fast as he had appeared.


	2. Past and Present

Otogi Ryuji was sitting out in the more or less deserted lobby, playing with a pair of die he'd found in his pocket. Well, technically 'found' wasn't exactly the right term since he'd known they were there – he liked having a few dice with him at all time. His green eyes were completely focused on the dice and he didn't notice anything going on around him, which was why Kaiba managed to completely surprise him.

"Still playing with dice, are we, Otogi?"

Otogi snapped out of his almost hypnotized state and nearly dropped the dice.

"Kaiba!" He hastily scrambled to his feet and quickly put away the dice. Kaiba simply gave him a small smirk and sat down in the armchair opposite of Otogi's one, before sweeping out with his hand. Otogi took it as a sign that it was okay to sit down again and did so, albeit a bit nervously and on the very edge of the seat.

"I wasn't quite expecting to see you here," Kaiba admitted.

"I-I know, I wasn't really thinking…" Otogi started to stutter. "I need a business partner as well, b-but I didn't think… I-I mean, when I saw you again… it never struck me how –"

"Don't do that."

Kaiba's voice was cold, clear – and his eyes were a perfect match.

Otogi's eyes narrowed for a moment and then a smile suddenly played around the corners of his mouth. Then he sat back in the armchair with his legs crossed and his chin resting in one hand. The pair of die magically appeared in his other hand again.

"Alright, then I won't."

Kaiba smirked just a little, pleased at Otogi's sudden change of attitude. Really, that nervous, stuttering man who had refused to meet his eyes only moments ago had been nothing like the Otogi he at least had known a little. No one changed that much in nothing but a couple of years.

They measured each other with the eyes for a few seconds. Kaiba couldn't believe Otogi looked the exact same as he had all those years ago – he still had the same long hair in a ponytail, still the same die hanging from his ear, and of course the same red vest – although the brunet had to admit it looked like it was made out of a more expensive material than before. And then again, Kaiba looked pretty much the same himself.

"What are you doing here, really?" Kaiba finally wanted to know.

"Oh no, I really did come here because I need a business partner," Otogi said. He was a bit surprised over both how fast Kaiba had looked through his act and that he thought he wanted something else. What else could he possibly need from Kaiba? "Though the rumor is you're looking for more than a business partner."

"There's a rumor?" Kaiba forced his voice to remain calm. He thought Matsumoto would keep that down!

"It's not really much of a rumor, I just ran into that model on my way here," Otogi explained. "She was really stuck up! But she said you only rejected her since she was a blonde and you needed someone who wasn't out partying all night and came home when you needed them."

The other CEO raised an eyebrow. Otogi had managed to understand he was looking for something more out of that one small piece of information? Or maybe he was just grasping at straws, just like the author of that article had been. Kaiba decided to test him.

"Why on earth would I want something more than a business partner?"

"Because you're completely alone," Otogi said with a wide grin, surprising Kaiba slightly. "Mokuba isn't living with you anymore, is he? You can't possibly tell me you _like_ being alone in that enormous mansion of yours."

'_But I do,'_ Kaiba was on the verge of saying. Then he realized it probably would have sounded a bit lonely, and sad too. But he would be lying if he said he didn't miss having Mokuba around.

"And don't tell me you haven't seen anyone since the last time we saw each other. That was years ago, you must've –" But then Otogi suddenly saw that Kaiba wouldn't meet his eyes, and the green-eyed man couldn't help but stare. "Oh my gods, you haven't? You haven't!" He laughed a little. Oh, it was almost too good! He couldn't believe Kaiba Seto – one of the most wanted you bachelors in the city, no, in the _world_ – wasn't interested in love at all! Then again, that might explain why he was so wanted in the first place – girls always wanted what they couldn't get.

"So you're telling me you've been busy?" Kaiba said and raised an eyebrow, furiously trying to fight down the blush threatening to rise up his cheeks. "According to the article I read a little over a week ago you've revealed yourself to be bisexual, so I'm guessing the media has been much more interested in your love-life in comparison to mine."

"That's only because nothing ever happened in your love-life, Kaiba," Otogi said with a sly smile. "But yes, I suppose you can say I've been busy. Good people are hard to find, both in business and pleasure."

"So, you're bi?" Kaiba asked when Otogi apparently didn't deny it. The blue-eyed CEO raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't have guessed."

"You're bi too. I knew all along," Otogi immediately retorted, all while that same, annoying smile played around the corners of his mouth. Kaiba decided not to deny the fact that he was bisexual. Who was Otogi going to tell anyway? … At least he thought he was bisexual. It was like Otogi had said; he hadn't dated anyone except a few girls back when he was still in school, so honestly, it was quite difficult to know. All he knew was that males generally seemed to be more intelligent than females.

And somehow, Kaiba found that he had missed that smile of Otogi's. Or not so much missed it as it was nice to see it again; it really did remind him of those old times – and even if he hadn't liked all those adventures back then he sometimes found himself missing at least the excitement they brought.

"I don't suppose you've seen the gang since the last time we met?" Otogi wanted to know and seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Kaiba. The other brunet wasn't quite sure when the last time he and Otogi met was, but seeing as it was years since he'd even seen Yugi on the news…

"No, I haven't."

Otogi raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Not even Jonouchi?"

"Why would I meet him of all people?"

The dice-master's surprised face was replaced by a smirk.

"I read that article a week ago as well, but I suspected it long before then. You liked him back then, didn't you?"

Kaiba's jaws tightened. "Why would you say that?"

Otogi's smile grew even wider. Now he _knew_ he had been right. But he pretended he wasn't sure, because for some reason he really enjoyed teasing Kaiba. Then again, he enjoyed teasing pretty much anyone.

"Oh, I don't know. I just always thought how it was a bit odd to see how much time you spent on someone you supposedly hated."

"I never hated him," Kaiba immediately said, and it was the truth. Even if he hadn't had… other feelings for the blond, he could never hate someone for simply being a pain in the ass. Not even that annoying mutt.

Otogi was quiet for a moment and his smile faded a little before he spoke up again. He didn't sound as mocking this time.

"Did you ever tell him?"

Kaiba was quiet for a long time as well; the other brunet's piercing green eyes studying him every second. What was he supposed to tell Otogi? The truth? Did he even know the truth himself? Did he honestly know if he once had some sort of feelings towards the blond other than annoyance? And something told him Otogi didn't want to know the extremely personal piece of information to be able to use it against him somehow – like everyone else would – but because he was purely curious.

Kaiba sighed, and then smiled bitterly.

"I thought about telling him, if only just to freak him out."

"What if he hadn't been freaked out?" Otogi asked and leaned forward a little. Kaiba blinked a little and opened his mouth to ask the question, but Otogi was faster. "What I mean is; he sure spent a lot of time on someone he supposedly hated as well," he paused for a moment but then continued, his voice lower this time, "I saw the looks he gave you when he thought no one was looking."

Kaiba couldn't help but stare with his mouth hanging slightly open. At the moment he didn't care what he looked like, and besides, Otogi was the only other person in the room due to the late hour, and for some reason it was alright to let his image slip in front of the CEO of DDM.

_I saw the looks he gave you when he thought no one was looking._

Was it really true? He wasn't quite sure if Otogi could make up something like that – he never knew Otogi well enough to be able to be sure now. But he had to admit he had been at least physically attracted to Jonouchi; there was something about his rough appearance; his golden hair, hazel eyes and complete lack of decent clothing… He was so different compared to Kaiba himself in every possible way… and Kaiba couldn't help but feel fascinated by him.

What if he had told Jonouchi he had feelings for him? Kaiba wouldn't lie; he had been afraid to do so since it would most likely push the blond away completely… it was better to have him close and unaware of Kaiba's confused and contradictory feelings. But what if Jonouchi hadn't been pushed away? What if revealing his own feelings had revealed Jonouchi's feelings as well?

_I lost him. He slipped right through my fingers._ Kaiba looked down at his own hands and found that they were trembling just a little. Then he clenched his fists and looked up at Otogi, who had been watching him under silence the whole time.

"This stays between us."

Otogi smirked a little again. "Now, Kaiba… did you really think you could tell me something like that and get away with it?"

Kaiba didn't protest, which was what surprised Otogi the most. Why didn't he protest? Because it was true, of course, but even if it was, normally he would just deny it. So why didn't he? Truth be told, Kaiba looked pretty sad under that blank face Otogi usually had the power to see through. His blue eyes were a torrent of emotion, actually, and for a moment Otogi felt bad for bringing up something that should've been forgotten long ago. Scars from old loves were the ones that hurt the most, and Otogi was painfully aware of that.

His smirk faded.

"Of course," he finally said; his voice low.

Kaiba looked down at his hands again for a moment, and when he looked up Otogi could've sworn a smile was playing around the corners of his mouth.

"Then do you mind telling me what was going on between you and the Pharaoh?"

Otogi blinked in surprise but then suddenly grinned. So, he had picked up on that much, had he? Well, either way Otogi figured he might as well be honest, since Kaiba had been. He really hadn't expected the brunet to tell him his secrets – although it was more or less Otogi who had figured everything out. It was like putting together a jigsaw-puzzle; Kaiba had given him the frame and he was just putting the pieces in their right place.

"The first time I met Yugi Motou I immediately thought he was weak, and I couldn't understand how he could be the King of Games. But then I dueled Jonouchi and won –"

"Oh, I never complimented you for that dog-suit-thing," Kaiba cut in, still with a hint of a smirk. "I liked that."

"I bet you did," Otogi replied with an all-knowing smile, "Either way, Yugi stood up to defend his friend, except… it wasn't Yugi. It was _him_. And he was so… powerful and mysterious and – … and I lost to him. I lost at my own game." For the first time, his eyes left Kaiba's and instead he studied the dice still in his hands. "And yet I couldn't bring myself to hate him. And I really did try too. He was like a riddle, a mystery, a_ puzzle_… and I had to solve it."

Then he suddenly looked up again, with a sad smile.

"I don't suppose I can explain it in any other way. Not that you'd get it anyway."

Kaiba frowned slightly. "How can you say that after I practically… confessed the feelings I had for Jonouchi?" he sounded a little accusing.

Otogi drew in a sharp breath; he really hadn't thought about that. Considering that, saying that Kaiba couldn't understand what it was like to be in love with someone had to hurt. And it clearly did, Otogi realized after studying Kaiba's face – and more importantly, his eyes – for a few moments.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Otogi said, and he really meant it.

Kaiba simply watched him for a few seconds before looking away.

"That's fine. It's not like I can expect people to instantly accept the fact that I actually have feelings other than spite and hate after seeing me as a cold and ruthless bastard for the entire time they've known me."

Otogi clicked with his tongue and crossed his arms, making Kaiba questioningly turn his head towards him again.

"Do you really think that's true?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… if Jonouchi _did_ have feelings for you, then he must've had a reason. Let's face it; he's not the type of person to like someone simply because of their good looks," he paused for a beat and Kaiba raised an eyebrow as he realized Otogi had implied he was good-looking, "so he must've had a reason. You know, if I thought you were a cold, ruthless bastard then I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

Kaiba searched Otogi's emerald green eyes, looking for any indication of that what he had just said wasn't true. He was both strangely relieved and surprised when he didn't find anything other than sincerity in his eyes – sincerity mixed with the usual mischief of course. The CEO of Kaiba Corp. smiled ever so slightly.

"Thank you," he said, surprising Otogi. But the dice-master smiled back.

"You're welcome."

"So here I am," Otogi said after a moment of silence.

"Here you are," Kaiba agreed and then straightened up a bit. "I have to admit it never occurred to me that you could be so…"

"Handsome?"

"… _interesting_. What kind of cooperation do you think we could have?"

"Well," Otogi said with a crooked smile and leaned forward a bit, "we're finally getting to the interesting part." Kaiba chose not to comment on the fact that he honestly thought what they had spoken about earlier had been _interesting_ to say the least, and let Otogi continue. "As you probably know, Duel Monsters have the great advantage of being portable, while Dungeon Dice Monsters is not. I was thinking about developing some sort of portable device for DDM."

"Like a Duel Disk for DDM?"

"Exactly. Now the biggest challenge about this is that Dungeon Dice Monsters usually require more space than –"

"If I was to do this, and I'm not saying I will, would I really be able to profit something off of it? I'm not going to do it simply to be nice, Otogi."

"I never thought you would," Otogi smirked. "I don't know how much you keep up with my business but…" Kaiba simply gave him a small head-shake and Otogi rolled his eyes. "… _but_ we've grown quite large in Europe recently, actually."

"So that's why sales have been going down in those areas," Kaiba said and seemed a little, but genuinely, surprised. Otogi couldn't help but roll his eyes again and let out a small sound of annoyance. "You're not stealing my customers, are you?"

"Hey, you still have both Japan and North America. My point is; if you were to make some sort of… well, Duel Disk for DDM, we could both profit."

"_If_ they sale."

"There's no question of 'if', Kaiba. They _will_ sale. Believe it or not, but people actually like my game."

"I suppose I have to believe you; the statistics are on your side." Otogi resisted the temptation of rolling his eyes yet again. "And I have to admit I'm tempted. It was a long time ago I took a real risk… and trying to expand my company is always a good thing. I think…" Kaiba begun but suddenly saw Otogi's a little too smug smile and couldn't help but smile slightly himself – the dice-master always seemed to be able to read him like an open book. "I think we should see each other again."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Yes, you like that puppyshipping, don't you? ;)


	3. Take a risk

**A/N:** Yay, I'm so glad to see people actually read and review this! Thank you! :'D  
>I have to admit, I haven't had much time to write lately - I've been working non-stop on my new cosplay, which I'm going to wear next weekend. This means it might take more than a week before I update again~! ;3<p>

* * *

><p>"But you don't <em>understand<em>. The problem is _not_ getting the technology working, it works perfectly _fine_. The problem is that DDM requires a bigger dueling area, and the holograms in the current Duel Disks simply aren't designed to handle areas that big."

"Well then _re-design_ them!"

During the past minutes, the volume between the CEO of Kaiba Corp. and the CEO of Dungeon Dice Monsters had risen to dangerous heights. The rest of the guests in the restaurant stole glances whenever they dared, afraid of angering either one of the young businessmen. However, it was a fairly unknown but still price-worthy and nice restaurant, and most of the guests wouldn't even dream of telling someone they saw _the_ Kaiba Seto and _the_ Otogi Ryuji together. Besides, they were obviously just discussing business – it wasn't like they were on a _date_ or anything.

Kaiba took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Honestly, how could he have thought Otogi was someone worth working with? The other brunet was more annoying than that mutt had been – and that was saying a lot. He was loud, stubborn, vain and he always thought he knew best – and yet Kaiba couldn't bring himself to stop bickering with him and simply walk out of the restaurant, like he had on his previous 'dates'.

"Re-designing the holograms would take months and cost more than you – yes, _you_ – can afford at the moment. And since the costs would be so big, not only to develop them but to manufacture them as well, the retail price would be at least 35% more than a regular Duel Disk – which means no one would buy them."

"Why am I paying for the development of the new holograms?" Otogi wanted to know and poked around a little in his food. It was a long time since either of them had eaten, caught up in their discussion.

"Your idea – your Duel Disk – _you're_ _paying_."

"Then you could at least pay for _this_," Otogi said and waved his fork around a little. Kaiba tiredly closed his eyes for a moment in silent agreement. The dice-master suddenly seemed to switch mood and brightened up a little. "Besides, we should really think of a cool name for the new Duel Disk."

"Leave that to the marketing group," Kaiba said and took a sip from his glass of wine.

"What about Dice Disk?"

"…"

"You know you love it!" Otogi grinned. When he only got a blank stare from Kaiba as a response he tried again. "Maybe DDM Disk? Hm, no. Too boring."

"I said, leave it to the marketing group," Kaiba repeated with only a small hint of irritation in his voice. Internally, he was having a battle with himself on how to handle the dice-master. On one hand he really wanted to show Otogi just how annoying he found the younger man, and other the other hand he didn't; because he knew Otogi would find it extremely amusing, and he would probably just increase his efforts. That was the difference between him and the mutt; Jonouchi had only thrown whatever insult he had on his mind at the moment – Otogi was smart enough to figure out just what exactly got under Kaiba's skin, and use it against him.

"How about DDD? _The Dungeon Dice Disk_," Otogi said and swept out with his hands in slow-motion, as if he was standing in front of a crowd, just announcing the new device they'd developed.

"Doesn't sound as good as Duel Disk," Kaiba couldn't help but comment, and Otogi immediately went off into a rant about how Kaiba always had to point out the differences even though those differences wasn't necessarily something bad. A small smile played around the corners of the blue-eyed CEO's mouth; he sure knew what made Otogi pissed as well.

"You know what, forget the Japanese names for a moment," Kaiba said and actually managed to shut Otogi up. The green-eyed man blinked a little while Kaiba straightened up, leaning forward across the table and resting his chin lightly in his hand. "It doesn't have to be that obvious. If the market is bigger in Europe, why don't we pick a European name?"

"Ohh, I like that!" Otogi brightened up and an honest smile suddenly spread across his face. Kaiba only managed to blink in genuine surprise – he couldn't remember seeing Otogi smile like that, _ever_ – before the dice-master continued. "How about something French?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of Latin," Kaiba said but was of course ignored by Otogi.

"What about Egyptian? It's not technically European, but Duel Monsters does originally –"

"You do realize you more or less just agreed with everyone saying that Duel Monsters and Dungeon Dice Monsters are the same game, right?" Kaiba could not keep the sarcasm away from his voice, nor could he keep his lips from twisting up into a smirk.

Otogi blushed ever so slightly and started to stutter, much to Kaiba's amusement.

"D-did not! They're not the same game! I was just saying –"

"You were just saying they at least have the same roots."

"Well, they _do_," Otogi said, clearly offended. His cheeks still had a hint of pink to them. "Even I can admit the games have several monsters in common, but other than that they're completely different. There's a whole other strategy behind DDM compared to Duel Monsters."

"If you ask me, they look pretty much the same."

"Well, no one asked _you_. No one _ever_ asked _you_," Otogi said, sat back and crossed him arms. He looked away for a moment and Kaiba couldn't help but think he was really acting like a child. But somehow, it suited Otogi. It was just the way he was, and Kaiba had to put up with that in order to reach that more intelligent man lurking behind the childish exterior. "… It's probably just because you've never taken the time to understand the principles behind –"

"Would you teach me then?"

Otogi stopped mid-sentence and stared at Kaiba. He wanted to whatnow? But then he quickly re-collected his composure; if Kaiba wanted to learn more about _his_ game, then why in the world would he say no?

"Well, sure I can teach you… Other than the duel arena in the back room of my game shop there's one downtown, in one of the arcades," Otogi said and frowned out in space instead of meeting Kaiba's only slightly curious eyes. If he was going to work with Kaiba now, perhaps he could convince the brunet to build a duel arena for DDM over at KaibaLand… He knew there were still people in Domino City playing DDM, since sales at the Black Clown was fairly consistent, but all of them couldn't possibly play over at the arcade, could they?

"Hey Kaiba…"

"No."

Otogi only blinked and then stared again. Kaiba was taking a sip from his wine; his eyes closed and his face as blank as always. When he put down the glass again and opened his eyes Otogi was suddenly struck by how _blue_ they were – there was only one pair of eyes that could match Kaiba's in intensity; and those were his own of course. At the moment he looked more or less neutral, but there was a tiny spark of something else in his eyes. Otogi couldn't help but wonder if anyone else could see that spark. If they could, he would be… disappointed, he realized to his own surprise.

"But… you don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"The answer is still no." Kaiba was cold as ice. "You have too many demands. And I'm guessing it was something about building more duel arenas for DDM?"

Otogi's stare turned into a glare, and now there was definitely a hint of amusement in Kaiba's eyes.

"And why is that such an impossibility?"

"If we design… _Dice Disks_," Kaiba uttered the words like it had to be cleaned and sanitized before he would touch them again, "and they sale, the duel arenas would be worthless, and we would have spent money on them for nothing."

"I… didn't think about that," Otogi had to admit.

"No. You didn't," Kaiba said and took another sip. He received yet another glare, but ignored it. "Besides, we haven't even decided if we're going to work together."

"You – We… haven't?" Otogi wondered in a, to Kaiba, surprisingly dumb way. He put down the glass and looked at Otogi over his clasped hands.

"Of course not." The other CEO opened his mouth to say something, but Kaiba was faster. "We're only discussing the _possibilities_ of a cooperation between our companies, you have to understand things like this takes time."

"But why?" Otogi asked with a frown. He honestly thought they were going to do this together! They even discussed the name and everything! Why did Kaiba have to be so damn cautious and stubborn all the time? Didn't he know the thrill of taking risks?

"You do realize we're talking about enormous amounts of money here? We can't just risk it all at the same time – we have to do research; find out if sales are really going up in Europe and if they will keep going up during at least the next few years. We have to know if re-designing the Duel Disks will pay off, and how much money we can spend on that, and then we still won't –"

"Kaiba…" Otogi groaned, and Kaiba stopped talking out of pure surprise. The green-eyed man threw his head back in exasperation and sighed deeply. When he me Kaiba's eyes again he looked more serious than the brunet had ever seen him. "Don't you ever take risks? I do that all the time, and look what happened; my company is almost as big as yours, but that's only because your company is technically older."

"You're a millionaire."

"… Your point?"

"I'm a billionaire."

Otogi rolled his eyes. "So? I still have enough money to last my entire life, and so do you. Just because I know how to spend my money and how to have a good time…"

"Luck favors you," Kaiba said. Otogi questioningly raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "What I mean is; do you really think you could have gotten this far without some help from fate? You know perfectly well what I feel about things like that and yet I can't help but think luck must favor you."

"But if you were to work with me don't you think luck would favor you as well? Maybe some of my good fortune will rub off on you if you stay close to me," Otogi said with a smirk. Kaiba only shook his head and rolled his eyes slightly. "Why are you even looking for a business partner? I thought you liked working alone."

"I do," Kaiba said with a deep, tired sigh, causing Otogi to raise both his eyebrows in surprise. "You read that article as well, didn't you? The one that caused such a big fuss little over a week ago? Well, my manager finally decided to tell me she thought I needed a partner, just like everyone else in that newspaper, and the entire world it seems like."

"Since when do you care about what other people think?"

"She's been my manager for more than three years and she _knows_ me, sometimes better than I know myself," Kaiba said. He was telling the truth; in a way it was almost eerie how Matsumoto always knew what he was thinking, often before he even knew it himself. "I value her opinion."

"… Are you looking for a business partner… or just a partner?" Otogi asked with a sly smile. Kaiba looked away.

"A business partner to begin with. I don't know if…" he trailed off. "I suppose it would be nice to have someone…" He sighed and trailed off again. When he turned towards Otogi he found that the dice-master was smiling mischievously towards him, which worried him a little.

Otogi liked this new Kaiba. Back then he didn't even think about the possibility of Kaiba being so… _human_. This Kaiba was insecure and socially awkward; spending so much time working alone at his office really made him unsure of how to act in public. And quite frankly, Otogi found this much more amusing and interesting than the cold, taciturn 'old' Kaiba.

He couldn't help but wonder if the other brunet was aware that he had changed.

* * *

><p>"Matsumoto… why did you set me up with Otogi?"<p>

The blonde looked up and found Kaiba standing leaned against the doorframe of his office, while she sat behind her desk just outside of it. He had a surprisingly thoughtful expression on his face, and wasn't meeting her eyes. After a moment, however, he did, and she couldn't help but smile. It was obvious to her he was both annoyed and interested by the CEO of DDM.

"I didn't set you up with him," she explained and carefully closed her notebook before putting it away. "I sent out several discrete e-mails suggesting you were looking for a partner to different companies I figured you would want to work with, and Dungeon Dice Monsters was one of those companies. Far from everyone replied, but he was one of those who did. It wasn't any more complicated than that."

"Hn," Kaiba simply said. He had a clear wrinkle between his eyebrows.

"Is something bothering you?"

"Well…" Kaiba begun but then let out an angry sigh and stood up straight. "_He_ – he's bothering me! He's so naïve and he keeps taking risks and chances… he doesn't think anything through and he thought we were going to cooperate just because we met and discussed things _once_."

"Well, aren't you?"

Kaiba frowned at her. She shrugged slightly and smiled at the incredulousness she could see at least in his eyes, if not on his face. Then Kaiba started pacing back and forth in front of her desk; normally he wouldn't have done that but it was late at night and barely anyone left in the office. Matsumoto's smile grew wider and she lightly rested her chin in her hand, following the brunet with her eyes.

"I honestly don't know. If what he's saying is true – if his sales really are going up in Europe we could really make a fortune out of this. But I don't know if I'll be able to develop a Duel Disk for DDM, the game's strategy is far more complex and requires a lot more space, which the current Duel Disks aren't capable of."

Matsumoto only managed to open her mouth before Kaiba stopped dead and turned his head slightly to be able to see her in the corner of his eye:

"And _don't_ say '_re-design them'_."

She smiled and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Do you want to hear my honest opinion?" she wondered, but didn't wait for an answer. "Maybe taking chances aren't that bad. Maybe you could learn something from Mr. Otogi – and maybe he could learn something from you."

"But I –"

"Take a risk, Kaiba."


	4. Dice

**A/N:** I was at Närcon this weekend and it was pretty awesome! People really seemed to like my Chell-cosplay, judging by how many times my companion cube was hugged and kidnapped XD

* * *

><p>Otogi couldn't help but smile smugly as he saw Kaiba sitting on the other side of the table, eating, and completely unaware of the fact that he was being observed.<p>

They had gone to a Chinese restaurant this time, and it was lunch instead of dinner. Otogi had decided where they should go, and the restaurant was a bit bigger than the previous one. The CEO of Dungeon Dice Monsters liked the atmosphere in there; he and Kaiba were sitting in the farthest back, but they had a view over the entire restaurant from there, while almost no one could see them. The whole place was decorated with not so much antique Chinese pottery and paintings as the usual tourist crap, and something told Otogi that Kaiba didn't quite like it.

But Otogi was still happy; he had finally managed to get Kaiba to agree to cooperate with him. They would develop and manufacture the new Duel Disks for DDM together, and then sell them both in Japan, Europe and North America, but focus on Europe, since that was where the market was bigger. He had managed to make Kaiba take a _risk_.

"What are you looking so happy about?" Kaiba said and put down his chopsticks once he finally noticed he was being watched.

"Oh, nothing," Otogi said but still grinned widely. Kaiba stared at him for a moment and then shook his head and rolled his eyes slightly. Ignoring Otogi, he waved over a waitress so they could order desserts.

"So how's Mokuba?" Otogi wondered once she had gone away again, carrying their plates. He couldn't really think of anything else to talk about except work – it wasn't like he knew Kaiba – and he figured his brother was a safe enough subject. "He's in college now, right?"

"High school."

"Oh right. He always seemed older somehow."

"I know," Kaiba said and Otogi couldn't quite decipher if he sounded happy or sad. There was some sort of emotion in his blue eyes, that much he knew. Pride maybe? "He's studying abroad, actually," Kaiba continued. "In the US."

"And you don't miss him?" Otogi asked incredulously. He as well as everyone else knew how strongly the brunet felt for his younger brother, and sending him off to a school on the other side of the world wasn't something Otogi figured Kaiba was capable off. But apparently he had been wrong.

"Of course I miss him; he's my little brother." He put a lot of force behind those words, but then quieted down again and straightened up a little. "And I hope he misses me as well."

Otogi stared at him. What in the world was he implying? But before he could ask, the waitress came back with their desserts. The emerald-eyed man had a huge piece of chocolate cake, strawberries and whipped cream, while Kaiba simply took some vanilla ice cream along with dark chocolate sauce. Otogi critically examined the other brunet's choice of dessert before focusing on the topic they had been talking about.

"You mean you don't know?"

"I… We don't really talk anymore," Kaiba said and poked around a little in his ice cream in a very un-Kaiba-like-way. "He only thanks me for the money I send him every month, and sometimes I get copies of his grades. He's doing well. Not as good as I would've hoped, but –"

At that point, Otogi couldn't help but interrupt him.

"Kaiba… exactly how much money do you send to your brother?"

To Otogi's big surprise, Kaiba turned his head slightly and wouldn't meet his eyes. The dice-master could've sworn there was a pink tint to the other CEO's cheeks, but the dim lights in the restaurant made it hard to tell. Otogi stared at him with incredulousness written over his face.

"No wonder he's not talking to you anymore; you're making him spoiled!" he finally said with a light laugh. Kaiba snapped his head back towards Otogi and now he was sure the brunet was blushing, but before Kaiba managed to say something Otogi continued. "And you really think this is the best way of doing things?"

"I don't want him to live like the other students," Kaiba said furiously, "I've seen how most students his age live and it's horrible. I don't want to put him through that."

"You don't think that could be a good experience?"

"What?" Kaiba asked, obviously before he could stop himself. Otogi took a mental picture of Kaiba's surprised face, and especially the confused look in his eyes and the flushed cheeks. Oh, he'd never forget that.

"What I mean is," Otogi said and leaned forward a little, "living like that and having to earn your own money is a really good experience. Both you and I know it; both of us have built our empires from scratch with no one to help us. Of course it was hard in the beginning, but that just makes us appreciate what we have now even more. If someone just _gave_ us the money, don't you think we would simply spend it on whatever we wanted at the moment instead of saving and investing it?"

Kaiba's eyes went slightly wide at this. He never suspected Otogi could be that… smart, in the lack of a better term. Of course he knew the other brunet was smarter than the rest of the geek squad had been, but still. He was really speaking as if from his own experience, but Kaiba would have to ask him about that later. Right now, Mokuba was more important.

"I want what's best for him. And I don't want him to dislike me," Kaiba finally said, carefully choosing his words.

"Kaiba," Otogi said and locked eyes with the other CEO, "you more or less have to act as Mokuba's father, you realize that, right? Parents… have to do what's best for their children, even if that makes them dislike you a bit. In other words; you have to do what's best for Mokuba even if he starts to dislike you. But he'll always _love_ you; you're his _brother_."

Kaiba kept the eye-contact for a moment, but then sighed and looked away. His arms were crossed. When he finally met Otogi's green eyes again his own blue eyes were slightly narrowed.

"Have you always been this smart and it's just that I haven't noticed?"

"Yes," Otogi answered bluntly, which actually made Kaiba smile a little. "Actually, I'm a bit surprised you don't know anything about me; I know almost everything about you. Know where you have your opponents, you know?"

"I have to admit I never really saw you as a threat."

Otogi clicked with his tongue, leaned back and crossed his arms as well. "Kaiba…" he said accusingly, but had no real anger in his voice.

"But you're right, I really should know more about you, especially now when we're working together." He paused for a moment, thinking. "You said you built your empire from scratch? I always thought your family supported you, but you moved away from them when you moved here. Where _did_ you live before?"

"In Tokyo," Otogi answered but smiled cryptically. "And I'm an orphan, Kaiba."

"You what?"

"An orphan. Just like you. Didn't you know?"

_No_. No, he hadn't even had the slightest clue. Otogi was an orphan just like Kaiba himself? He had never mentioned anything about it, or even given the tiniest indication that was the situation. But then again, Kaiba had never asked. Nor had anyone else for that matter, as far as he knew. He suddenly realized Otogi was watching him with an extremely amused smirk and quickly shut his mouth. He wouldn't let Otogi have too much fun.

"I honestly didn't know," Kaiba finally said. He didn't know what else to say, really. "May I ask how…?"

"How everything happened?" Otogi said, trying to help the obviously uncomfortable Kaiba. The other brunet nodded a little and Otogi's smile faded slightly. "Well, apparently my parents died in a plane crash when I was nothing but a couple of months old. I was at an orphanage until I turned nine, when a man named Ueda Kohaku adopted me. But I developed DDM pretty much on my own, at my free-time, 'though he helped me promote it. Heh, my story isn't nearly as dramatic as yours." He smiled a little but definitely didn't sound too happy.

"I… I really didn't know," Kaiba said and sounded sad, which surprised Otogi.

"Does it change anything?"

"Well… yes, of course." He seemed to hesitate at first but then make up his mind.

"How? I'm still the same person; my personality is the same and what I'll do with my future is the same. That's all that matter; the future."

"But I have more respect for you now," Kaiba said with sincerity in his voice. Otogi blinked a little and then a genuine, albeit small, smile lit up his face.

"Thank you."

* * *

><p>"Mokuba, you –! No, you listen here, young man…"<p>

Otogi watched Kaiba with a worried wrinkle between his eyebrows. The CEO of Kaiba Corp. had called his little brother during the limousine-ride back home, and was obviously having an argument with him. But internally, Otogi smiled; he had managed to make Kaiba listen to him and take his advice. Somehow, it made Otogi just a little warm inside – it was a long time ago anyone had listened to him in that way.

The city was passing by quickly outside the windows; it was still early afternoon and a lot of people were out in the nice weather. Otogi gazed out through the windows and didn't pay any particular attention to what Kaiba was telling Mokuba. It seemed rude to eavesdrop, but at the same time – since Kaiba had called him up when Otogi was nearby and couldn't get away, that must mean he didn't mind that Otogi knew what was going on, right? He would lie if he said that didn't make him warm inside as well.

Kaiba sighed and hung up just as the limo stopped outside the Black Clown. He smiled apologetically towards Otogi.

"He got mad," the blue-eyed CEO explained.

"I figured," Otogi said dryly but then got out of the car. "Honestly, what did you expect?"

Kaiba got out as well and simply watched the giant sign above the door of the game shop before answering, but he still wasn't meeting Otogi's eyes.

"I don't know. I didn't think he could be…"

"… such a brat?" Otogi suggested, which earned him a dark glare from Kaiba, even though the dice-master had a feeling it was the expression he would've used to describe his brother, if he hadn't been so protective. Otogi decided to comfort the other brunet, since he did feel a bit sorry for him. "He'll calm down eventually, just give him some time."

Instead of answering, Kaiba simply sighed and watched the sign for a few more moment before turning towards Otogi with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I've never been in there," he said and nodded briefly towards the game shop.

"You haven't? You haven't!" Otogi said and his eyes widened once he realized it was true. How could Kaiba not have been there before? "Do you want to check it out?"

"Please," Kaiba said with a small smirk and followed as Otogi led the way.

Since it was Sunday, the game shop was closed, but Otogi unlocked the front door so they could take a look at the actual shop. They actually had a lot more games other than Dungeon Dice Monsters; they even had Duel Monsters – much to Kaiba's surprise – and they had several other card games, board games and different kinds of puzzles. Otogi showed Kaiba the door leading to the room behind the shop, the room where the duel arena was. The CEO of Kaiba Corp. seemed impressed the arena itself could change from being for Duel Monsters to being for Dungeon Dice Monsters.

When Otogi started walking up the stairs by the opposite side of the wall, Kaiba couldn't help but speak up.

"There's more?"

Otogi stopped and turned half-way around. "Well… my private rooms."

"You _live_ here?" Kaiba asked incredulously.

"Yes…" Otogi said hesitantly but continued walking up the stairs. "I like being close to both my shop and my duel arena. It's not really like _you_ can complain; you practically live at Kaiba Corp."

"Tsk," was all Kaiba said, but he followed Otogi up the stairs and out into a light apartment. Kaiba was surprised over how few things Otogi had; somehow he had always thought the dice-master was the kind of person to collect tons of trinkets and mementos. The rooms were painted in light colors, even though the floor was dark wood, and the furniture was mostly white.

"It looks better than I thought it would," Kaiba commented, which made Otogi roll his eyes. A sudden jingle made Kaiba quickly turn his head in search of the source, much to Otogi's amusement.

A cat with fur as black as the night and crystal clear emerald eyes came half-running up to Otogi and stroked against his leg with an affectionate purr. The cat had a red collar with a bell in it, explaining the sound. The CEO of Dungeon Dice Monsters bent down and gently petted the black cat; in a second seemingly completely forgetting Kaiba was there.

"Hello Bastet," Otogi mumbled with a smile. The name sounded familiar to Kaiba, who frowned a little as he thought for a moment.

"The Egyptian cat goddess?" he asked.

"I couldn't resist," Otogi admitted and stood up straight again. He did look a bit embarrassed, but Bastet sat by his feet and stared up at Kaiba without even blinking. She suddenly yawned, looked away and then walked up to Kaiba instead. Without really thinking, the brunet knelt down and held out his hand. After sniffing at it for a few seconds, Bastet allowed Kaiba to pet her, even though she seemed to be on guard the whole time. When she finally walked away again, Kaiba looked up only to find Otogi standing there with a smirk on his face. The brunet hastily stood up.

"You never seemed like the cat-type to me," Kaiba said in an effort to make Otogi stop smiling that annoying smile.

"Oh? And what type do I seem like?"

Kaiba was on the verge of saying something along the lines of 'should never ever have any kind of animal whatsoever-type' when he saw something that caught his attention. He ignored Otogi for a moment and walked up to a large shelf standing by the wall close to a desk and a chair. The shelf itself was filled with dice; some more expensive-looking than others, some big and some small, and some obviously old and worn-out by time.

"Now this is more like you…" Kaiba mumbled and eyed the shelf from the top to the bottom. Otogi, who either hadn't heard or didn't care, walked up to the shelf as well and stopped right besides Kaiba, their arms just barely touching. "Are these all the dice you've ever had?" the brunet wondered and looked down at Otogi, who had a surprisingly calm face, but smiled a little when he heard Kaiba's question.

"No, far from it. All the dice I've ever had… I think those would fill up about twenty of these shelves," he laughed lightly. "No, these are the ones that meant the most to me."

"Tell me about them."

"All of them?" Otogi couldn't help but ask, along with an incredulous glance at Kaiba. Even if it wasn't _that_ many dice compared to how many he'd had, it was still well over thirty of them. Kaiba simply nodded. "Okay, it's your funeral…

These two," Otogi said and pointed at the pair of die at the furthest top – they both looked old, dirty and uneven, "I stole at the orphanage. We didn't really have any toys, but we did have several games, even though we could only use those when the adults were watching. So I stole those two in order to have something to do at night, when we were supposed to be asleep.

This one was the first one I got from Kohaku once he had adopted me. There's nothing too special about it, but it was still a first.

These ones," Otogi said with a laugh and pointed at two identical dice, except one was blue and the other red, "are the first ones I got that are _loaded_. I won them in a bet at my previous school actually. I think that was the day I realized luck really was on my side. They'll always land on seven, of course.

This one is actually an earring, and it's completely worthless." Otogi picked it up so Kaiba could see it more clearly. "It's uneven and the color isn't too pretty either. But I got it from my first 'real' girlfriend and it still means a lot to me. Somehow people I date always end up giving me dice."

"I wonder why," Kaiba couldn't help but smirk, and received a playful shove from Otogi as a response. However, the CEO of DDM continued, untouched.

Kaiba couldn't help himself; he stopped listening. It wasn't that he did it consciously; he really did find the stories surprisingly interesting – it was something about how Otogi told them that made it exciting – and he liked getting to know more about his new business partner. But his attention slipped further and further away from the dice and started focusing on Otogi himself instead. He had never dreamt of the dice-master being so compelling, and now he honestly regretted not getting to know Otogi more when they had been younger, but he'd rather die than admit that to the brunet himself. Knowing Otogi, he'd never stop teasing Kaiba about it. But bickering with Otogi wasn't too bad actually.

Kaiba slowly turned his head to remain unnoticed and studied Otogi while the other brunet continued to talk, obviously unaware of the fact that he was being observed. The green-eyed man suddenly laughed at something – a memory or a joke he had just told– and Kaiba felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth when he saw the other's joy.

Arguing with someone intelligent was always nice, and Otogi could be really smart when he put his mind to it. Other times he could be the biggest brat Kaiba had ever known – Otogi was spoiled, vain and stubborn. In a way that was odd, since Kaiba had always been richer than the dice-master.

Said person abruptly stopped talking and turned his head towards Kaiba; the brunet's mouth hung slightly open and he was unable to talk as he suddenly found himself gazing into deep emerald eyes.

"You weren't listening," Otogi said bluntly.

"Yes I was," Kaiba responded, but it came out a little too fast.

"No, you weren't. I just told you I got this one when I slayed the Blue Eyes White Dragon."

Kaiba's jaw shut tight and his eyes narrowed until he saw Otogi's mischievous smile. Then he relaxed a bit, but was still waiting for the punishment that should obviously follow his 'disobedience'; not listening to Otogi wasn't something you could get out of easily.

"Can't take your eyes off me?" Otogi smirked.

"I-I…" Kaiba started to stutter, much to his mixed surprise and annoyance.

"That's alright; I forgive you," the young CEO said and smiled a genuine smile. Kaiba suddenly felt a small twitch of… _something_ in his stomach, and his throat went dry. What in the world just happened? But Otogi wouldn't let him think about it for two seconds. "Come on, let me teach you DDM!"

Otogi grabbed onto Kaiba's arm and practically dragged him away from there, even though he obviously hadn't finished telling him about the dice. Kaiba focused on not tripping over his own feet as Otogi led him down the stairs again, and tried to ignore how hot the other's hands felt against his arm.


	5. Old Friends

**A/N:** Thank you for every review, fav and alert! Thanks to yugisun, Luna (you're my fav, girl! xD), mofalle, DJRena and XXXXAnimeXXLoverXXXX for reviewing! *huggles*

* * *

><p>"Kaiba, look!"<p>

The blue-eyed CEO turned around at the sound of Otogi's overly cheerful voice. Kaiba had gone ahead to pick a table where they could sit and speak in private, when the other brunet had stopped him. Kaiba had to resist the temptation of rolling his eyes – Otogi was so childish; he had probably just discovered the koi pond the restaurant had. But the sight that met Kaiba's eyes when he turned around was surprising, to say the least. Still, he somehow managed to keep a somewhat neutral face, even though his eyes widened a little and his eyebrows went up a bit.

He looked almost the exact same as he had all those years ago. He was a bit taller, and his oddly purple eyes were a bit more slanted; his black hair with magenta sheens was longer, and he had tied it back in a loose ponytail, but the yellow fringes were still framing his face and partly hiding his eyes. He had a small smirk playing around the corners of his mouth, which reminded Kaiba more of the Pharaoh than the person actually standing in front of him – Yugi Motou.

"Kaiba," he said warmly. Otogi was standing behind him, one hand on his shoulder and with a wide grin on his face.

"Yugi…" Kaiba breathed, still in disbelief.

"Long time no see, huh?" the (former?) King of Games said and reached out his hand. Kaiba, who finally got the presence to move, shook it briefly and forced himself to smile.

"Yes, it's… it's been a while."

"Isn't this cool?" Otogi said and took a step forward, so he was standing in between Kaiba and Yugi, looking from one to the other. "First you and I meet, Kaiba, and now Yugi as well! I'm guessing you moved away from here, since I haven't seen you in years?" he asked, turned towards the shortest of the three.

"Yes, my girlfriend lives in another town, and I moved in there with her. I just came back to visit my grandpa and to pick up the rest of my stuff from the Game Shop."

"Girlfriend, huh? Wow, that's impressive – more than _some_ can accomplish apparently," Otogi said, and received a glare from Kaiba, but Yugi didn't notice and the dice-master ignored it. "Is it someone we know?"

"No, you've never met her… but she's really something. I love her," Yugi said and a dreamy smile suddenly played across his lips. Otogi laughed and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder before throwing an arm around his neck.

"Do you think she might be the one?" he asked with a mischievous smile, making Yugi blush slightly.

"I-I don't know if… I think…" Yugi started to stutter. "I mean, she's great and all, but… I think it's a bit early too –"

"_Relax_, Yugi," Otogi said and tightened his hold around the shorter man's neck, "I'm just messing with you."

"That is just like you, I'm glad to see you haven't changed," Yugi grinned. Otogi looked a bit hurt, but was still smiling.

"I have so changed!"

"You have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!" Yugi raised his voice to be able to be heard over Otogi's loud protests. They were playfully wrestling each other now; since Yugi had grown but Otogi hadn't it was a bit more even now than it would have been a couple of years ago.

Kaiba listened to the conversation in slight confusion and surprise. Otogi and Yugi acted as if they simply hadn't seen each other over the weekend – they still really seemed to be good friends. Was this really how old friends greeted each other again? He didn't know how to greet Yugi; they had been enemies back then even though Yugi had always been nice, and now Kaiba was struck with conflicting emotions. On one hand it was nice to see him again of course, but on the other hand he could feel the old rivalry bubble up to the surface again – he really did want to defeat him in a duel, once and for all.

Somehow it had been different when he and Otogi met. Back then, they hadn't been friends, or enemies for that matter. Otogi had just been someone standing in the background, not worthy of Kaiba's attention. He was just now learning everything about the other CEO; all those years ago he hadn't known anything about him, which he regretted now.

Kaiba was unsure how to handle the situation – what would the proper thing to do be? Invite Yugi to his and Otogi's dinner? Kaiba had thought he and Otogi could discuss something other than business for once – he knew the dice-master was getting sick and tired of it – and he had actually been looking forward to talking about something else. Catching up with Yugi would be interesting as well, but… they could do that some other time. Right now he wanted to speak with Otogi, alone, he realized.

The brunet unfroze from his inner musings as he realized Yugi and Otogi were still talking, laughing and telling stories from the past. Kaiba felt a small tug at his heart when he saw them smile together. Wait… he what?

Yugi laughed lightly and dried his eye a little, while Otogi still chuckled.

"Well, I should probably leave you two alone," Yugi said and smiled towards Kaiba – apparently he hadn't noticed the brunet completely spacing off. But his words made both Kaiba and Otogi raise their eyebrows and exchange questioning looks. "You two are on a date… right?" He raised one eyebrow as he looked from one to the other.

It took Otogi a moment to process what Yugi had said. Kaiba was, of course, faster.

"What? No, no," he said, but before he had even finished speaking Otogi caught up and started talking as well, turning both of their sentences into gibberish.

"What? Haha, ew, no."

Otogi drew in a sharp breath and bit his lip the moment the words slipped out of his mouth. His sentence earned him the oddest look he had ever gotten from Kaiba – it was surprised, that much he knew, but there was something else in there in his blue eyes as well. Anger? Dismay? … Hurt?

But there was nothing he could do. Honestly, what could he do? It wasn't like he could apologize or anything – because what was there to apologize about? Luckily, Yugi didn't seem to notice and continued with that same old smile on his face.

"Ah, so you're working together then?"

"Yes. We are," Kaiba said. His voice hadn't sounded that cold in years.

Otogi avoided both the brunet and Yugi's eyes. Why was he feeling so damn guilty all of a sudden?

"Well, in that case I really should leave the two of you alone. You probably have a lot to talk about, and fight about." He laughed a little. "I bet you two can't get along at all. But I do hope you can have some sort of cooperation. I think the two of you, together, could do something really great."

"Yes," Otogi forced himself to say with a smile. "It was really nice seeing you again, Yugi. Maybe we can meet someday again?"

"Yeah, that would be great! I have to admit, I can't in the nearest few weeks… We're, uh, going to paint the apartment so I'll be busy with that for a while." He laughed again but sounded a bit more troubled this time. "Nice seeing you again, Otogi… Kaiba…" he smiled and nodded towards the both of them before raising his hand as a good-bye and walking away.

Otogi stood still and watched Yugi walk out of the restaurant, which was fairly empty since it was only lunch-time. The dice-master didn't exactly have his arms crossed – he was more… almost hugging himself, since he had suddenly gotten a very unpleasant feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't want to turn around to face Kaiba.

When he finally felt/heard the brunet turn around, starting to walk away, Otogi sighed in relief and turned around as well. He was relieved and nervous at the same time when he could only see Kaiba's back – his white coat swishing around his ankles as he walked – he wanted to see his face but at the same time he dreaded it.

Kaiba walked up to one of the booths at the furthest back of the restaurant, where they always sat, and sat down – but his eyes were closed. Otogi sat down as well and picked up the menu; neither one of them really made an effort to meet the other's eyes.

The mood was very awkward all of a sudden.

Otogi regretted everything he had said during his and Yugi's conversation, and he was suddenly wondering why Kaiba had been so quiet the entire time. If he could turn back time he would've changed everything – he didn't know how he'd change it, just that he would. Anything to get out of the situation they were in right now.

Otogi had only been joking. Did Kaiba honestly think he was being serious? Otogi could admit, to himself at least, that Kaiba was good-looking. He was. Every girl's magazine out there said so, so he had to be. And he was intelligent. So there was no reason to feel disgust around the brunet, really. Otogi had only been joking about the 'ew' part; it just slipped out – what did Kaiba expect him to do?

"That was unexpected," Kaiba said, snapping Otogi out of his near-panic-state. The blue eyed CEO still wasn't meeting his eyes, however.

"Y-yeah," Otogi managed to get out.

"He really does look a lot more like the Pharaoh now when he's older."

Otogi immediately glared at Kaiba. The other brunet looked up for a moment, met his eyes, and then returned to his menu; his face completely blank.

The dice-master had to admit he had been thinking along the same lines. Yugi was a lot more powerful now, a lot more intimidating, than he had been before. And as always, you could see hints of the Pharaoh in Yugi's eyes, if you only knew what you were looking for. Otogi had tried not to think about it – this was _Yugi_; the Pharaoh was long gone and he was never ever coming back. But he could still see him in Yugi's deep purple eyes.

"At least I wasn't in love with a mutt," Otogi said. He instantly knew he had crossed a line when Kaiba looked up, his eyes dark, but it was too late to go back now.

"I was never in love with him."

"Oh yes, you were only attracted to him physically, right? Yeah, that's much better."

"It's better than being in love with a 3000 year old spirit living inside the body of a sixteen-year-old boy."

"Shut up," Otogi growled and slammed down the menu on the table.

"You started," Kaiba said and carefully laid down his own menu, "You brought Jonouchi up when I thought I had forgotten him. What's the matter, can't play your own game? Oh, that's right, you _can't_."

Otogi felt a blush rise to his cheeks in pure anger. _He didn't_.

"Well, at least I managed to get Jonouchi into a dog-suit. That's more than you'd ever do," Otogi said with a grin on the verge of becoming maniacally, and a slight blush appeared on Kaiba's cheeks as well. He could see Kaiba's jaws moving a little.

"… You crossed the line," the other CEO finally said; his teeth gritted.

"What line? The one you drew around yourself in order to keep everyone else out?"

"I am not –"

"Yes you are! You're so incredibly cold and self-centered and you never let people get close to you! Other than your brother, can you honestly say you have one other person that you'd trust with your life? Or not even your life; you don't trust _anyone_ with _anything_! Do you know how sad that is?" Otogi hissed, desperately trying to keep his voice down but at the same time get his message across. "All those years ago I never saw you as anything other than 'Yugi's enemy', but I remember that I thought you were so miserably lonely even back then!"

"Well, _you_," Kaiba spat, "are so unbelievably childish and naïve; you never take anything seriously and all you ever do is taking risks and chances. Did you ever try to stop and think for a change? What do you think will happen the day your luck finally runs out? Do you think everything will just magically fix itself, like it always has? It's like you're living in some sort of fantasy world where everyone can be trusted and every story has a happy ending."

"At least I _believe_ in happy endings! It can never hurt to simply _believe_ in something! You won't even do that! And would it kill you to show some trust towards someone other than you brother for once? I'm trying – I'm honestly _trying_ – to get to know you better, not just because I want a cooperation between our companies, but because I want to know _you_. I don't know why but somehow I don't want you to be that lonely anti-hero who doesn't trust anyone and who does everything on his own!" Otogi was panting a bit, still blushing, but because of a completely different reason this time. He hadn't exactly meant to say that, it just sort of… slipped out… But it was true.

When Kaiba spoke again his voice was eerily cold and calm.

"During these past few weeks I have actually gotten to know you, and you want to know what I found out? You are vain, childish, naïve…" For each word Kaiba spoke, Otogi's eyes got darker and darker until you could barely see how green they truly were. "… ego-centric, annoying and you keep taking risks. I don't _understand_ you and to be perfectly fair, I wish I hadn't gotten to know you better." Otogi's eyes widened just a fraction. "I liked it better back then, when you'd just stand around in the background and when you weren't such a _nuisance_."

Otogi stood up, knocking over his glass and spilling water over the table, but neither of them cared. His expression was darker than Kaiba had ever seen it before, but he held his head high and refused to break the eye contact with Kaiba.

"Well," Otogi said, his voice perfectly matching Kaiba's, "if that's the way you feel then I won't be bothering you anymore. You can consider our cooperation dissolved."

The second the dice-master turned around Kaiba saw something that made his breathing stop for a moment and yet again he felt a sting at his heart – something by the corners of Otogi's eyes had glimmered in the light. But then the other CEO turned around and walked – practically ran – out of there, ignoring the fact that the few other guests stared and that he almost knocked over a waitress on his way out.

The door slammed shut behind him.

Kaiba slumped over and leaned his head in his hand, tiredly closing his eyes. What in the world had he done now?

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** As bad as it sounds, I think this is my fav chapter xD  
>And I based Yugi's new design on this drawing I found: http:  neofox . deviantart . com /art/Yugi-and-Pharaoh-156415870


	6. White Roses

**A/N:** School starts tomorrow for me, and I honestly don't know what will happen with my fanfic-writing, since it's my final year. I _**will**_ continue writing Emerald Roses though, and update regularly, don't worry about that ;)

* * *

><p>Otogi was sulking.<p>

If anyone other than his black cat had seen him like that they would've taken a picture of him and slapped it into a dictionary under 'sulking'. His eyes were dark, his arms crossed, and his feet resting on the low table next to the sofa. Bastet lay next to him and didn't seem to mind that her master was in such a bad mood.

Otogi had been in a much worse mood right after his and Kaiba's 'date', as Yugi put it. He had forced himself not to scream but had still kicked his belongings around and thrown dice around himself. When he was like that Bastet knew to hide on top of the shelf with his special dice – the only place you could know you were safe.

But that had been two days ago and since then he had calmed down, but he still hadn't left his apartment and he hadn't opened the Black Clown, even though it was Thursday. He knew he should, because he would need that money eventually.

It was like Kaiba said; he was a millionaire – Kaiba himself was a billionaire.

Damn that Kaiba.

He said Otogi was ego-centric, and well… Kaiba was too! He really was; after all these years he still didn't care about anyone other than his own brother. He was still far too stuck up and he didn't know how to spend his money and have a good time. _That_ was the only reason he managed to be a billionaire.

Otogi wasn't ego-centric. He could care about other people. He just didn't have anyone to care about.

He groaned as he realized how lonely that sounded and quickly dropped that train of thoughts. Next to him, Bastet looked up at him for a moment and then lay down again.

And Kaiba said Otogi was naïve and kept taking risks. So what? That was part of all the fun in life! Kaiba just didn't know how to have fun…

Otogi sighed deeply and sunk further down into the couch.

So he wasn't going to work with Kaiba. Then what was he supposed to do? Find someone else? He couldn't help but groan again when he thought about that – finding someone suitable was always so _hard_. Everyone was either too busy or too dumb. Kaiba had been perfect. It was a bit hard to admit that, but he really had been. He was intelligent and listened to Otogi's ideas and knew what he was doing…

The dice-master sighed in frustration yet again and threw his head backwards, staring at the ceiling.

In a way he couldn't know if their cooperation was truly dissolved; in order for that to happen they had to tear up the contract the both of them had signed a few days ago. But unfortunately that contract was in the Kaiba Corp. building. When Otogi had been at his angriest he had thought about going there and tearing up the paper himself, but he had stopped himself at the chance of running into Kaiba there. He didn't feel like meeting the brunet again just yet.

Ohhh… he really did want to work with Kaiba.

Otogi always knew this would happen. Not so much that he and Kaiba would fight, but rather his own reaction to it. At first he would get furious, throw things around himself and not care about anyone trying to help him (Kohaku had called him last night, and Otogi, still pissed, had hung up), then he'd start sulking, and finally he would become sad. Really sad.

That's the way it always went.

And then, even though he would hate himself for it, he would practically crawl back to Kaiba – or whoever it was that had made him mad – and beg for their forgiveness. He hated that part of his personality but he couldn't change it. It had been a little better back when he still hung out with Yugi and his friends, but now… He hadn't really had a real friend in years.

He couldn't help but laugh bitterly – he was just as socially awkward as Kaiba.

Except Otogi was better when it came to love. Yes, definitely. Small but crucial detail.

Suddenly, the door-bell rang one floor down. Otogi groaned and rolled his eyes – either it was a customer wondering why the shop wasn't open, or Kohaku wondering why Otogi had hung up on him, or Kaiba wondering what in the world was wrong with him. Either way, Otogi did not look forward to facing them.

For a moment he thought about ignoring them and pretending he wasn't home, but then the door-bell rang again and Otogi remembered – his car was standing in the parking lot for everyone to see. With a final, exasperated sigh, Otogi forced himself up from the couch and sat off, not down the stairs to the duel arena, but down another pair of stairs leading to the back door, which was where the bell had rung.

Mentally preparing himself for whoever it might be on the other side, Otogi unlocked the door and slowly opened it.

"Look, I really don't care about whatever it is you want to –" But then the words died in Otogi's throat as he saw who it was, and what he was holding. It was Kaiba standing out there, his blue eyes calm but oddly distressed, and he was holding a bouquet of roses. There were at least a dozen, and they were all in pure, flawless white. Kaiba looked completely serious, but his eyes revealed a great sadness.

"I'm sorry," he simply said. Otogi's mouth opened a little, but it wasn't because he was going to say anything; he was simply surprised. The dice-master's body relaxed and he simply looked from the roses to Kaiba's sincere face. "I really am. I said a lot of things that weren't true and I shouldn't have done that. Will you forgive me?"

It took Otogi a moment to find his voice. Dang, he had forgiven the brunet the moment he had showed up at his house looking like that and carrying those flowers. Flowers… That was a thing you'd normally give to your lover, right? But he wouldn't let Kaiba off the hook so easily.

"You said you wished you hadn't gotten to know me better." He fought to keep his voice as cool and emotionless as Kaiba's usually was.

An almost pained expression clouded Kaiba's face for a moment.

"I know, and it's not true. The truth is… I wish I had gotten to know you back then, all those years ago, had I known you could be this… intriguing," he said and a small smile played around the corners of his mouth for a second before he got serious again.

"You said I'm a nuisance."

"You are," Kaiba smirked, and Otogi couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. "But I like it that way. It makes life more interesting."

Otogi hesitated for a moment. It wasn't exactly the answer he had expected, but if there was anything he'd learned during the past weeks it was that Kaiba really could be unexpected, when he put his mind to it. It was time for the final question.

"And our cooperation?"

"It's still on, if you want to. I still have the contract; it's still valid. But if you honestly want to, I'll tear it apart… just as long as we can still be friends."

Otogi blinked a little and drew in a surprised breath. _Friends_… He looked away for a moment and brushed a strand of hair away from his eyes when he felt a blush rise to his cheeks. It was odd… he felt so _privileged_ to be called Kaiba's friend; it was like the other brunet didn't think that anyone else was worthy of the title. But Otogi was.

He looked up at the CEO of Kaiba Corp. again and found that he was still standing there, still with the same expression and still with the roses in his hand. Otogi sighed but smiled and tossed the little dignity he had left aside, practically falling into Kaiba's arms. The shorter of the two wound his arms around the other's waist and buried his face into his chest.

Kaiba blinked a little and looked down at the brown mop of hair, which was all he could see from the position he was in. Otogi was… hugging him. It felt… nice. If Kaiba had been at his full senses (which he wasn't, and that was probably a good thing) he would have noticed how the other brunet's body seemed to fit perfectly against his own, like two parts of a puzzle. Instead, he gently put one hand on Otogi's back, while focusing on keeping the bouquet of roses away from his exposed skin – they did have thorns after all.

It seemed like a long time, but in reality it had been nothing but seconds when Otogi pulled away again. His hands were still firmly placed around Kaiba's waist and he didn't seem to be planning on letting go anytime soon. Kaiba kept his hand on the other brunet's shoulder.

"You forgive me?"

Otogi smiled at how the other had to ask – he really didn't know how people acted.

"I'll forgive you," Otogi said, "on one condition."

"Anything," Kaiba said immediately, and honestly.

"That you forgive me as well." Otogi's smile faded. "I said some things as well, and they weren't true. I'm sorry for that. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course," Kaiba said and gave Otogi's shoulder a light squeeze. The dice-master's face lit up with such a genuine and bright smile Kaiba couldn't help but stare, and suddenly he forgot how to breathe.

However, Otogi didn't seem to notice, carefully wormed out of their embrace and took the roses from Kaiba in one fluid motion. He brought them up to his face and inhaled the scent, closing his eyes in pure pleasure. He didn't notice that Kaiba watched his every move.

"How did you know?" he asked with a smirk. Kaiba simply raised his eyebrows. "That these are my favorite?"

Kaiba smirked a little as well. "I believe it was you who said you should know where you have your opponents… wasn't it?"

Otogi rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly, but smiled.

"We're not opponents anymore, though?"

"We never were," Kaiba said, his smile growing wider. "You see, as I said I never saw you as a threat."

"Jerk," was the only intelligent response Otogi could come up with, but he was still smiling slightly. Then he turned around and started walking up the stairs again, still holding onto the flowers. Kaiba hesitated for a moment before following – he didn't know what Otogi wanted him to do so he had to guess. But the reasonable thing to do seemed to be inviting himself, and Otogi didn't protest as Kaiba came up into his apartment.

The first thing Kaiba saw was Bastet, who was lying on the couch simply watching him with her green eyes. The brunet could hear Otogi rummage around in the door next door, probably looking for a vase or something to put the flowers in.

"You know, she reminds me of someone in an odd way." Kaiba raised his voice a little to make sure Otogi heard him.

"Who?" he could hear from the other room.

"Your cat."

"No, I mean; who does she remind you of?" Otogi appeared in the door opening, carrying a beautiful vase with the flowers in it. Kaiba simply smirked at him and raised an eyebrow. The dice-master huffed and rolled his eyes, and put the vase down on a small table before walking up to Kaiba. Both of them watched the cat for a moment, but she had her eyes closed now.

"I think she likes you."

Kaiba looked at him in disbelief. "What makes you say that?"

"The last person I brought home was scared away because Bastet kept clawing at her dress and glaring at her."

Kaiba laughed under his breath and for a while simply watched Otogi, who was smiling at forgotten memories. He was really glad the other CEO had accepted his apology so easily. He had really expected Otogi to be more stubborn about it, but it wasn't like he was complaining. Somehow he couldn't stand fighting with him – teasing and bickering was fine, yes, but this was different. He had never thought Otogi could take such offence to something Kaiba said; the brunet thought Otogi had been the type of person to simply shrug it off.

Perhaps he was. Perhaps it was the fact that it was _Kaiba_ who had said it that made Otogi take offence.

Suddenly, Kaiba became aware of the fact that Otogi had turned his head and was watching him in silence, his expression completely serious – but his emerald eyes were glittering with mischief as always.

"Still can't take your eyes off me?"

"Otogi…" Kaiba said with an exhausted sigh.

"Joking, joking." But the look on his face told Kaiba that maybe he wasn't joking after all.

Unsure of what to say, Kaiba turned around and found himself standing in front of the shelf with the dice again. He eyed them from top to bottom; he could tell exactly where he had stopped listening the last time.

"Tell me about them. I promise I'll listen this time," he added with a hint of a smirk.

Otogi gave him an evaluative look for a moment, probably thinking about whether to believe him or not. He knew what had happened the last time he had told him about the dice. Then again, since Kaiba had just completely gone out of his way to apologize about something that wasn't technically all his fault…

"Alright, fine," Otogi finally said, raising his hands in defeat briefly. "Where did you stop listening?" Kaiba pointed. "You didn't even listen to half of them! Oh, come on…"

Kaiba only smiled slightly and shrugged a little, leaning against the desk standing nearby.

"You better listen this time; I won't tell you a third time.

Now, these two are also from girlfriends… and these three are from my first boyfriend. He was such a sweetie. Our initials are engraved on all of them, which must've been really expensive to do."

Kaiba really did listen to him the entire time now – Otogi made sure every once in a while. The CEO of Kaiba Corp. was a bit surprised how Otogi could remember every single story to every dice – there really were a lot. Some he had gotten from previous business partners, some he had gotten from girl- and boyfriends, and others from friends. He had bought some when he was abroad in business or pleasure, and there were quite a few he had gotten from Kohaku every time he had done something good, in school or otherwise. Otogi had saved the dice Yugi – the Pharaoh – had used to win over him. Kaiba had to admit he wasn't quite sure as to how to feel about that. There was something nagging in the back of his head, and he didn't want to admit it might have been jealousy.

After a while Otogi leaned back as well, but ended up leaning more against Kaiba than the desk. Kaiba didn't have the presence to push him away, but then again, why would he do that? Otogi's lean, quite warm body was pressing against Kaiba's own in a way he couldn't describe in any other way than 'nice'. Kaiba carefully, slowly, moved his arm so he almost had it around Otogi's waist.

The dice-master _had _to notice Kaiba's arm being there, but didn't care and simply continued talking. In some inexplicable way, that made Kaiba warm inside. He hadn't been this close to anyone in years – or _ever_, actually.

Finally, Otogi pointed at the last one – the one at the shelf furthest down to the right – and finished off by saying;

"That one I got from Kohaku when I turned nineteen. I haven't gotten any since, actually."

"Any particular reason?"

"No real business partners, no girl- or boyfriends – at least not any ones who actually _cared_ about me – and no… friends," he said with a sigh. Kaiba couldn't help but frown a bit. Then he decided to try and cheer the dice-master up, and gave him a small shove with his shoulder.

Otogi looked up, caught the look on Kaiba's face, and then turned his head away – but he was smiling. He hadn't had a real friend in years – until now.


	7. But I suit your taste, don't I?

"Look at this!"

Kaiba, only mildly surprised and interested, looked up at Otogi's face before actually taking a look at the newspaper the other had slammed down on his desk, right on top of the papers he had just been signing. Otogi had looked annoyed – but there was some poorly-hidden amusement in his eyes as well, and as soon as Kaiba read the headline he understood why.

'CEO OF KAIBA CORP. ON A DATE WITH THE CEO OF DDM?' it said with enormous letters all over the front page, along with a photograph of himself and Otogi, sitting at a restaurant and obviously enjoying each other's company. Kaiba realized the photo must've been taken the previous day, when he and Otogi had eaten lunch together at that Chinese restaurant again. He _knew_ there had been something suspicious about the man sitting in the corner.

He simply snorted and carefully folded the newspaper before putting it away. Otogi looked at him in confusion and more annoyance, but Kaiba ignored him and returned to signing the papers.

"What, that's it? We're not going to do anything?"

"Look," Kaiba said with a sigh, putting down the pencil, "if we have a press-conference or interview together claiming that all of these rumors are false, we'll just make them even more suspicious. So no, we're not going to do anything."

"I, uh… I didn't think about that," Otogi admitted.

"No. You didn't."

Otogi shot him an angry glare, but the other brunet didn't notice since he had gone back to work again. The CEO of Dungeon Dice Monster rolled his eyes and sat down on the edge of Kaiba's desk.

"They'll come here eventually, you know. Reporters, journalists, fangirls… All looking for the truth."

"Hn."

Otogi hadn't been at Kaiba's house before, and he couldn't really say he liked it. The other brunet had been critical to Otogi's choice of apartment, but the dice-master himself couldn't see how Kaiba could live here. This place didn't fit him at all; it was so old-fashioned and way too big – it might've been okay when Mokuba still lived here, but now…

_He must be lonely. There's no way he can live here and _not_ be lonely._

Otogi himself would've gone mad if he had been living alone in such a huge place – that was why he liked living so close to the Black Clown; he always had people close by.

"… How's Mokuba?" Otogi wondered, still looking around in Kaiba's workroom.

"He's calmed down a bit, but he's still trying to negotiate his way into getting more money," Kaiba said without stopping his work; Otogi could still hear the sound of the pencil moving over the paper. But then he sighed and paused for a moment. "But… apparently a few of his 'friends' have left him now that he's not 'rich' anymore." Otogi grimaced a little and turned his head to meet Kaiba's eyes. The blue eyed CEO had a bitter smile on his face.

"That must've hurt."

"He's more shocked about it, actually. I was honestly hoping that wouldn't happen, but… I guess he had to learn the hard way that not all people are trusted."

"… Has that ever happened to you?" Otogi asked after studying Kaiba's calm face for a moment.

"Not really. I never let people get that close to me, and if they did I always thought about the possibility of them being dishonest and simply being with me because of my wealth." Otogi raised his eyebrows a little. Kaiba watched him for a few seconds before the corners of his mouth twitched up into a small smile. "Yes, you as well. In the beginning at least… but not anymore."

Otogi turned his head away to be able to hide the wide grin that suddenly spread across his face. Damn it, why did Kaiba's words always make him so warm inside? Not that he minded, it did feel nice… but he couldn't understand _why_.

The dice-master didn't notice Kaiba hadn't gone back to work until he heard the other clear his throat.

"Otogi," Kaiba said with the outmost patience, "you're sitting on the papers I need."

Said person blinked in surprise and looked down, only to find that he was indeed sitting on a pile of papers. Kaiba reached out and tugged at the papers to show him that they really were stuck. Otogi grinned widely, much to Kaiba's annoyance.

"I'm not moving until you agree to drop this and go to the Black Clown so I can kick your ass in another game of DDM."

The other brunet huffed and rolled his eyes.

"Otogi, really…"

"Not moving."

"Otogi!" Kaiba said sharply and quickly stood up. Otogi's smile faded a little and his eyes widened. "Move!" The blue eyed CEO swept out with his hand, making the other brunet jump away to avoid getting a smacking. Otogi laughed lightly and took a few steps back, to a safe distance. Kaiba sat down again with an exhausted sigh and returned to his papers.

"Come on, Kaiba. You're so boring when you're working. Let's go have some fun!"

"I didn't invite you," Kaiba said with a cold voice, and Otogi couldn't help but feel a small pang of disappointment. "You knew I was going to work today."

"But…" Otogi begun but didn't know how to continue. He had gone to Kaiba's house mostly because he simply wanted to be with the other brunet, not because he wanted to actually do something with him or stop him from working. But he found that he had a hard time not annoying Kaiba all the time – it was just too much fun. Apparently he had crossed a line this time, and Kaiba really did seem to be angry.

Kaiba looked up and saw Otogi simply standing there, in such an un-Otogi-like way he couldn't help but frown a little, and smile. The other CEO looked completely dejected, a face Kaiba didn't often see on him, and he was nervously fiddling with his bangs.

The brunet sighed and took a quick look at his watch.

"Come on, let's go eat lunch."

Otogi's face brightened up.

* * *

><p>Kaiba had to admit he quite liked seeing Otogi so pleased when all he had to do was take him out to lunch.<p>

Otogi had been right; there had already been reporters standing at Kaiba's doorstep, with their cameras and microphones and notebooks. The two CEOs had sent out the guards to deal with them while sneaking out the backdoor. Kaiba had a car not even the media knew about, and they had taken it to a small but nice not so much restaurant as café. The people in there seemed to know Otogi – not the CEO, but the person.

The blue eyed man watched in amusement as the waitress brought Otogi his favorite food without the other even having to ask. Otogi had smiled and winked at her and she had gone away with Kaiba's order, even though the brunet wasn't sure she'd gotten it right since she seemed to be a bit flustered.

"They know you here," Kaiba commented once he had finished eating. The food had been delicious, that much he had to admit. "Are you sure they won't tell the media?"

"I'm sure. I've eaten here for years, and – remember when we were supposed to 'work' at a store or café for one week in school? – this is where I went," Otogi said, smiling fondly at the memory.

Kaiba was quiet for a while, absently playing with his glass of water for a few moments. When he looked up he found that Otogi was watching him with a slightly questioningly and maybe a bit worried face.

"I'm… I didn't mean to be so angry before, I'm sorry," Kaiba said and Otogi smiled a little in relief.

"That's alright. I shouldn't have bothered you."

"No… no, it's not that. It's just that…" Kaiba sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Matsumoto told me that… even though I have you as a business partner I should still consider finding someone… else."

Otogi tried to ignore the twist of alarm in his stomach.

"You mean, an actual partner?" he said, trying to keep his same old smirk.

"Yes… I'm not sure how to feel about it, though."

"Well, you've practically never had a girl- or boyfriend, so you can't be expected to know." Kaiba looked at him with a small wrinkle between his eyebrows; he couldn't decide it Otogi was mocking him or not. "You won't know until you try."

"I don't know where to start! Matsumoto helped me the last time, but that only got me a business partner. No sorry, I should say 'only'," Kaiba said quickly when he caught the look on Otogi's face. "What I mean is; I don't think I could find something more that way."

"And you have no idea as to how you'd otherwise find a girl?" He paused a beat. "Or boy?"

"No," Kaiba said bluntly and tried to ignore Otogi's oh-so-very smug smirk. "I honestly don't."

Otogi kept his smile for a while, really enjoying being better than Kaiba at something. But then he cleared his throat and straightened up a bit, trying to get more serious.

"Well, you know… If I've dated a girl or boy and we break up, I still try to remain friends with them. It doesn't always work, but if I don't, knowing that there's someone out there more or less hating me really… well, you can't stand that after a while," Otogi said, honestly. Kaiba seemed to think about this for a while before commenting.

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"I could give one or two of them a call?"

"You mean like a blind-date? How's that different from what Matsumoto did?"

"Well, I wouldn't –"

"And to be fair, I'm not sure the people you've dated would suit my taste," Kaiba interrupted him with a small smile.

"But I suit your taste, don't I?" Otogi smirked and Kaiba couldn't do anything but blink in surprise. "Then don't you think they…"

The rest of Otogi's sentence disappeared as Kaiba instantly stopped listening. _But I suit your taste, don't I?_ This was not good. He couldn't keep doing this for long. Something was wrong, very wrong – he couldn't believe he'd let Otogi get so close to him.

"Alright, fine!" Kaiba said and rolled his eyes in pretended defeat. He interrupted Otogi in whatever it was he had been saying and made the dice-master look at him in surprise. "You can go ahead and call your exes. I can't promise I'll like them, though."

"Don't worry, Kaiba, I think I know exactly what you'd like," Otogi said with a smile that made Kaiba immediately regret his decision.

"You're not going to pair me up with the worst one, are you?"

"Oh, I didn't think about that. Thanks for the idea!"

"Otogi…" Kaiba couldn't stop himself from groaning. Otogi chuckle a little. They fell silent for a while; the CEO of Kaiba Corp. watched the other as he smiled and waved at some of the other guests. It was hard to decide whether he was doing it simply to be nice or if he could actually gain something from the people. "You know what I always liked about you?"

"Besides my dashing good looks?"

"Yes, besides that," Kaiba smirked and ignored the ill-boding feeling he got in his stomach at Otogi's words. "You're normal."

"Are you calling me normal? I'll have you know I take that as an insult."

Kaiba rolled his eyes slightly and Otogi laughed lightly. He loved doing things like that to Kaiba, but he didn't really want to think about just _why_ he liked it.

"What I mean is: you were never involved in the whole Ancient Egypt-thing with the Pharaohs and priests and real monsters. You're only human," Kaiba said, surprisingly softly.

"You're only human too, Kaiba."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes…" For the first time, Otogi's eyes left Kaiba's and instead he studied his plate while poking around in the remains of his food. "… but even though that might have been the reason you liked me – Don't interrupt me," he suddenly said, because Kaiba had opened his mouth and was on the verge of saying something. "… that was always the reason I felt left out. I came in late to your group and I didn't have any of your history. I was never really a part of your group."

Kaiba sat quiet, watching the obviously gloomy green-eyed man. It wasn't as if he could really disagree with him; he really did have a point, and Kaiba had never thought about that before. But finally, since he felt like he had to say _something_, he said:

"Our group?"

"Well, Yugi's group. But you were a part of it."

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not." (Kaiba would sometimes agree to bicker with Otogi in an extremely childish manner if it made the dice-master happier again.)

"Was too and you know it." Otogi chuckled under his breath as Kaiba scowled. "Honestly, you had to be aware of it. Even though you always acted so high and mighty and tried to be cold and ruthless, usually when you did something it was for the common good." Otogi raised an eyebrow and smirked a little. "Am I right?"

Kaiba didn't answer and looked away instead. It took Otogi a moment to see it, but when he finally did he couldn't help but stare; Kaiba had a slight pink tint to his cheeks.

"My, Kaiba… Are you blushing?" The other brunet gritted his teeth and frowned, and Otogi's smile faded. Apparently he'd really hit a landmine. "You really don't like it when people think you're nice, do you?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"It's a weakness."

"Honestly, Kaiba… I can't believe someone as smart as you can be so _dumb_ sometimes."

Kaiba snapped his head towards Otogi; he was frowning, and his blush was more obvious now.

"If you've got something to say, then just say it; stop beating around the bush," he spat.

Otogi's eyes narrowed. "I don't like it when people speak like that to me. But since it's you I'll make an exception." He tapped his fingers against the table and leaned forward a bit before continuing. "Being kind in the sense that you're naïve or let people push you around is of course pretty idiotic and can be considered a weakness. But being kind in the sense that you help others can never be a weakness. It is, in fact, one of the greatest strengths you can have."

Kaiba simply looked at him; his cheeks still pink, but Otogi got the feeling it was because of a completely different reason this time.

"… Thank you," he finally said and for a moment his normally cold eyes seemed almost warm.

"You're welcome," Otogi smiled. He really did mean it, too. But then he looked away, bit his lip and stayed quiet for a while. There was something he wanted to do but he wasn't sure he had the courage to. "… May I call you Seto?" he finally asked.

Kaiba blinked slightly in surprise but then smiled, just a little. He decided to take a risk, something he had learnt from Otogi himself.

"Only if I can call you Ryuji."

"Of course," Otogi smirked.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Ouugh, I have to admit, I'm really not in the mood for writing lately. But I am drawing a lot, since that's the way it usually goes; when I write less I tend to draw more, and the other way around. Haven't done anything YGO in a while, though, perhaps I should ;3


	8. Eyes filled with emotion

**A/N:** I am _sooo_ sorry, you guys! TT_TT It's horrible; I don't feel like writing at the moment even though I _really_ want to! I managed to squeeze out this chapter and I _was_ going to upload it earlier, but my parents banned me from the internet for a stupid thing I did =u=

I'm so sorry ;_;

* * *

><p>"Ryuji?"<p>

Otogi, without being able to stop a smile, looked up at the sound of the other saying his first name. He _liked _it when Kaiba said his real name; somehow it sounded much softer than 'Otogi' and it made him warm inside.

"Yes?" Otogi said when Kaiba didn't continue. The blue eyed man was sitting behind his desk while Otogi lay on his stomach on the sofa a few meters away. The dice-master was lazily flipping through some magazines with one hand and playing with a pair of dice with the other. He let Kaiba work in silence for once, only interrupting him every once in a while to point out some interesting article he'd found or to come with yet another name suggestion for the 'Dice Disk'.

"… Are you sure this will work?"

There was really no question as to what Kaiba was referring to – especially not since it had been Otogi who had reserved a table in the restaurant Kaiba and his date were going to. There was only an hour left before the date, and if it had been Otogi he would've been doing everything in his power to look good. Apparently Kaiba didn't think he needed that.

Otogi didn't think the other brunet needed it either.

"Nope," Otogi said and returned to his magazine. "You never know with you. Or her for that matter."

"Who is she exactly?" Kaiba wanted to know.

Otogi looked up at him again, then sighed and put away the magazine before rolling over on his back. He dropped his head back far enough to be able to observe Kaiba, albeit upside down. It seemed to annoy the other CEO for some reason, which was precisely why Otogi did it.

"Megan Kevinson, the daughter of one of the few of my retailers in the US. Her father is Timothy Kevinson, perhaps you've heard of him?" He received a wordless nod form Kaiba as a response. "He's very well-known for investing money in several smaller companies and helping them get bigger. That was how I met Megan – at one of the business parties. She very… charming, in her own way," Otogi said and couldn't help but smirk a little.

Kaiba caught the look on his face and grimaced just a little.

"Now I'm really starting to regret this whole idea."

"Come on, Seto!" Otogi said, rolled around again and sat up to be able to properly meet the other's eyes. "It'll be fun; you'll get to eat good food, stay up late and you'll meet a pretty girl! Where's the downside?"

"Unlike you, Ryuji, I'm actually interested in more than appearance."

"Hey, I care more about people's personality than their appearance," Otogi said and crossed his arms, slightly offended. He looked away for a moment, and then met Kaiba's blue eyes again, smirking a little. "Otherwise I wouldn't be with you."

Kaiba opened his mouth, realized what Otogi had said and closed it again, glaring at the other CEO. Otogi grinned wickedly. The blue eyed man kept his glare for a while but eventually couldn't do it anymore – that grin of Otogi's made him smile slightly as well.

"I know you didn't mean that," Kaiba said and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair.

"Confident, are we?"

"I know you didn't mean that because you've implied that I'm good-looking several times."

"And you remember this, why…?" Otogi wanted to know, but when Kaiba didn't do anything but raise an eyebrow he tried a different approach. "And yet you haven't returned the favor."

"Should I?"

"Yes," Otogi said bluntly, making Kaiba's smirk widen again.

"You look _fabulous_, Ryuji."

Otogi's eyes narrowed. "Now say it like you mean it." Kaiba chuckled under his breath but didn't say anything. "… Shouldn't you be getting ready?" the green eyed man finally said when he couldn't get what he wanted from the other CEO.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're still in your –" Otogi gestured towards Kaiba's clothes but then stopped himself and sighed. "You know what? Nevermind. I bet your entire wardrobe is filled with black pants, black shirts and white coats."

"Much like yours is most likely filled with black pants, black t-shirts, red vests and red headbands."

"But I like these clothes!" Otogi said, clearly offended.

"And I like these," Kaiba said without being able to stop a smirk from spreading across his lips. He could practically hear the cogs turn in Otogi's head as the dice-master searched for yet another witty comeback. But Kaiba had to admit he was growing a bit tired of those today, especially since he knew he had a date coming up.

He had to admit he wasn't quite looking forward to it. The mere interviews for the job as his partner had been plain torture – except for Otogi's of course – so how was he supposed to make it out of a _date_ alive? A date with one of Otogi's exes, none the less. Would that mean he would date someone who was exactly like Otogi himself, or someone completely different? … He wasn't quite sure which one he'd rather take.

"Let's go," Kaiba said and stood up just as Otogi opened his mouth, probably to come with some snide remark. The dice-master looked surprised at first but then shrugged.

"I invited over some friends to my place while you're on your date, and we're going to play a few rounds of DDM. But if you panic you can just call me," Otogi said with a little too smug smile as they started moving out of the room.

"Sounds like you're expecting me to panic –" But then Kaiba suddenly remembered something as Otogi mentioned DDM. "Wait, you know what? I have something for you."

"Do you now?" Otogi said and tried to keep his relatively cool smirk, but it was hard as he felt like grinning with his entire face. What could Kaiba possibly have for him? He loved getting gifts, and it was a long time since he the last one.

Kaiba turned back to his desk and opened the top drawer, Otogi constantly trying to look over his shoulder to see what it was. But Kaiba turned around again and held out his hand towards a slightly puzzled Otogi. The dice-master placed his own hand in Kaiba's with his palm turned up, which seemed to be exactly what the other CEO wanted. Kaiba carefully put a small box covered in some sort of silk fabric in Otogi's hand. It looked like one of those you had wedding-rings in.

Otogi gave Kaiba a suspicious look before actually taking the box. He eyed it for a moment and then opened it, unable to stop himself from gasping as he saw its contents. It was a die. It was a die, but not just any old die, Otogi realized as he picked it up – as carefully as if it had been made out of glass. It was perfectly balanced, perfectly square, perfectly _everything_. The die was made out of white ivory and instead of plain old dots on the sides there were delicate and intricate rose patterns in dark green ink.

"Seto…" Otogi breathed once he'd managed to find his voice. "It's… it's beautiful! Thank you!"

Kaiba simply smiled towards him. This was the exact reaction he had been expecting and looking forward to, maybe a bit too much. The dice-master kept twisting and turning the die, studying it from every possible angle, and Kaiba's smile grew wider. Otogi certainly was childish, but right now it was nothing but cute. Then the other CEO said something that threw Kaiba right off guard.

He suddenly looked up, smirking, and his green eyes sparkling. "You know, if we had been dating I would've kissed you."

Kaiba blinked a little and opened his mouth so say something but immediately closed it again. He wasn't quite sure how to take that. How _was_ he supposed to take that? It was a sign of affection, of course, and gratitude too, he supposed. But still, the thought of kissing Otogi… He drew in a sharp but barely audible breath. _Oh God._

Otogi hesitated for a moment but then shrugged to himself and decided that it didn't really matter, sneaking his arms around Kaiba's waist and relaxing against his chest. The other brunet stiffened at first but after a moment actually relaxed and placed his hands on Otogi's back as well.

"Thank you," Otogi said again, but it was a bit muffled since he spoke right into Kaiba's shoulder. The taller man gave him a light squeeze before pulling away and meeting his eyes.

"You're welcome," he said with a small smile, even though there was a spark of something more negative in his sapphire eyes.

* * *

><p>Otogi had agreed on meeting Kaiba the day afterwards, so he could get a full report on what had happened during his and Megan's date. At least the brunet hadn't called him last night, so it couldn't have been that bad.<p>

But the look on Kaiba's face when Otogi opened the door to his apartment said it all. The dice-master cringed.

"Was she really _that_ bad?"

"_Yes_," Kaiba said empathically and brushed past Otogi, walking up the stairs to his actual apartment.

"Sure, come on in," Otogi said to the empty doorstep, then rolled his eyes and closed the door before following Kaiba upstairs. He found the CEO of Kaiba Corp sitting comfortably in the couch, scratching Bastet behind her ear. The cat seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.

Otogi sat down in an armchair opposite to the couch and studied Kaiba for a moment. He still had a frown on his face.

"She wasn't _that_ bad back when I knew her," Otogi said, still a bit puzzled as to why Kaiba disliked Megan so much. "What… what was it you didn't like about her?"

"She was so cold and harsh and she barely spoke at all," Kaiba said and crossed his arms, looking out the window. "It was hard getting something out of her that wasn't all about business. She seemed to think I wanted to start a cooperation between her father's and my companies, not that I actually wanted a date."

The corners of Otogi's mouth twitched.

"You do realize you pretty much just described yourself, right?"

"I did not!" Kaiba snapped, and immediately turned his head towards the very amused Otogi. "Stop smiling like that." His frown was more obvious now, and his teeth gritted.

"Oh, I don't know… cold, harsh, only talks about business… that sounds an awful lot like you to me."

"… Does it really?"

Otogi, sensing that there was something deeper hidden behind Kaiba's question, took a second look at the other CEO's face before answering. He was obviously still mad, and probably a bit irritated over his bad date. But… there was hurt in his eyes as well; nearly hidden under that mask of indifference/anger, but it was there. Otogi softened.

"No, you've changed. This is proof enough." Otogi smiled slightly and pointed towards the die hanging from his ear. But it wasn't the usual die, Kaiba realized as he squinted his eyes and looked closer. It was the one he'd given to Otogi one day earlier.

"Here," Otogi said and got up. He walked over to the couch and sat down close to Kaiba, their knees touching. "I haven't ruined it, see. There's just a clamp fastening it to the thread, I haven't actually made a hole in it or anything." He held it up so Kaiba could see closer, but without actually taking it off. "I just wanted it with me wherever I went."

Kaiba reached up to touch it, and doing so, accidentally brushed the tips of his fingers over Otogi's bare neck. A shiver went through the dice-master's body. He stretched his neck a bit and gulped ever so slightly, and met Kaiba's calm eyes. Otogi saw something deep down in the other's blue eyes, something he hadn't seen in a very, very long time. It was raw and violent, crashing around like a torrent of emotion.

And it scared the everloving crap out of Otogi.

"Look…" he said, sliding back on the couch so they weren't touching anymore – backing off mentally as well. "… the thing about dates is that you kind of need some patience. You're not going to find that perfect girl or boy on your very first one. It might take a while." He smiled apologetically.

The look – _that_ look – in Kaiba's eyes seemed to linger for a while, before he blinked and looked down at his clasped hands. He sighed.

"I know." Just as Otogi thought Kaiba wasn't going to say anything more, he continued. "But everyone is acting like I have to find someone _now_. Like there's a time limit or something."

"Well, there kind of is," Otogi said and laughed a little when he saw Kaiba's confused yet slightly horrified face. "The older you get…" There was no need to finish that sentence. Kaiba sighed again and rolled his eyes a little.

They fell into a more or less comfortable silence, except they were still sitting a bit too close to one another in Otogi's opinion.

"… What about you then?" Kaiba finally asked, looking up to meet incredibly green eyes.

"What about me?"

"If there really is a time limit, wouldn't you want to find someone?"

Otogi opened his mouth but then closed it again.

What was he supposed to tell Kaiba? That the last time he had been in a relationship it had ended horribly? Horribly in the sense the girl had wished he was dead; she had left with nearly half of Otogi's fortunes, explaining why he had surprisingly little money, and she had literally crushed the dice she gave to Otogi as a gift.

It still hurt. It still hurt like hell, but – despite the fact that he'd rather not think about it – being with Kaiba made him forget. It was such a long time ago since he had been able to be so close to someone so naturally, without it ending up in disaster. And, he realized, he had to make an effort so this relationship didn't end in a disaster as well. They had already fought once, but Kaiba had been kind enough to forgive him. He probably wouldn't a second time.

Otogi didn't realize how long he had been silent until Kaiba spoke up again.

"Ryuji?" he said quietly, sensing that something was wrong. Said person blinked and looked up at Kaiba as if he had forgotten he was there. "Are you alright?"

"… No," Otogi said gloomily and without meeting Kaiba's eyes.

"What happened?" Kaiba wondered in a soft voice that didn't sound like his own at all.

"She left me. Not much more to say, really. But it was one of the more nasty break-ups I've had." Otogi pulled his legs up close to his body and wrapped his arms around them, resting his chin on his knees.

"… The thing about girls and boys is that you need patience. It takes a while to find the perfect one," Kaiba said, deliberately using Otogi's own words against him. He only received a dark glare as a response. "I'm sorry," Kaiba said but couldn't help but smile a little. "I'm sure you'll find your perfect one as well."

But as Otogi met Kaiba's eyes – strangely filled with emotion – he wasn't so sure anymore.


	9. Slipping through one's fingers

**A/N:** A new chapter! Praise Ra! :'D  
>I'm so glad for all the reviews I've gotten! I love you all ^^<p>

* * *

><p>The second date Otogi made Kaiba endure went marginally better; this girl was like the exact opposite of Megan. Her name was Yun Zhang and she reminded Kaiba far too much of one of the girls he had interviewed in search of a business partner – the fangirl one.<p>

She was a bit too talkative for Kaiba's taste, but she was bright and bubbly in her personality and completely different from the quiet Megan. She seemed to voice every single thought she had and if Kaiba had to guess, he would've said she grew up in a family with many, many siblings and that she wasn't used to being heard. He found himself being spoken to death, and once he'd actually gotten out of his date he met up with Otogi again. He had told the dice-master about his date and then asked the other to kindly shut up, since Kaiba thought he had done enough talking to cover the following months.

Otogi had smiled and stayed quiet and eventually Kaiba had started to speak again.

The third date was yet another woman – for some reason Kaiba had implied he didn't feel like dating men, much to Otogi's surprise. He could understand how Kaiba wouldn't want the media finding out about him dating another man, but still… It was a bit odd.

Her name was Fujimoto Haruka and apparently Otogi had been dating her for quite a while before she had to move to the northern part of Japan, far away from Domino City and where Otogi had lived. But now she had moved back and she was in charge of the company behind the arcades in the city, and they were apparently doing quite well.

Kaiba found that he actually liked her, much to his own surprise. She was intelligent, albeit not on Kaiba's own level, nice to talk to and she had a sense of humor not too unlike Otogi's. She did look rather plain, though, with long black hair, dark eyes and pale skin – but her self-confident presence really made her stand out in a crowd.

"The problem…" Kaiba sighed a little. "The problem is that… you compare all your dates to your first one."

He and Otogi were sitting at the cozy little café Otogi liked so much again, the CEO of Kaiba Corp. drinking coffee while the other drank hot chocolate. He complained he didn't like the taste of coffee, but the waitress had brought him some cookies he didn't have to pay for. It was fairly late at night and not a lot of people left in there.

"Haha, tell me about it," Otogi grinned and nibbled yet another chocolate-chip-cookie. "The first one is not always the best, and yet you can't help but compare all the others to that one."

"My first one was certainly terrible," Kaiba said and grimaced over the edge of the cup – referring to both his first interview and his first date. "No, I… I find myself comparing them to someone else."

Otogi stubbornly stared down at his hot chocolate. He had an ill-boding feeling he knew who Kaiba was talking about, but he wasn't going to ask him to get his suspicion confirmed. He pulled himself together and looked up only to almost get thrown off guard by Kaiba's sad blue eyes. Otogi forced himself to smile.

"But Haruka isn't so bad, is she? I quite liked her myself; if she hadn't moved I probably would've stayed with her."

"Then wouldn't you want to get back together with her now that she's back?" Kaiba wondered but only seemed vaguely interested.

"No, I make a habit of never dating the same girl or boy twice. If it didn't work the first time it's not going to work out the second time either," Otogi said, truthfully. He did have a couple of rules like that for himself to abide, even though more than half of them had their exceptions.

"… I did like her," Kaiba admitted after a while. "At least she was _bearable_, unlike the rest of my dates. I honestly can't believe you've dated them. How _did_ you put up with them?"

"… I have to admit those first ones were a few of the not-so-good-ones I've had," Otogi said with a poorly hidden smile. He immediately got serious again when he saw Kaiba's dark eyes. "All the good ones were already taken!" he quickly defended himself. "But since Haruka just recently moved here…"

"Still. You paired me – _me_ – up with people _you_ didn't even like."

Otogi could sense this conversation weren't going someplace nice.

"I believe… in people changing," he said and waved his cookie in Kaiba's direction, as if to get his message along more clearly.

"And yet you won't give your exes another chance?"

"Uhh…" Otogi stalled; he could see the clear flaw in his logic. He stared out in space for a while, thinking.

… Damn that Kaiba and his logic. He really did have a point. Otogi couldn't escape his cold, cynical way of thinking. But what did he really want? He was criticizing Otogi's previous girlfriends as if he didn't want to date any more of them; as if he wanted to give up on the whole idea. Did that mean he was satisfied with Haruka or was he simply giving up? Now, Kaiba certainly wasn't the type to give up, but maybe it was different when it came to love and its likes. That was most definitely not Kaiba's area of expertise.

"… So what do you think about Haruka, really?" Otogi finally pressed, unable to think of something else to say.

"I could imagine going on a second date with her, actually."

"Really?" Otogi blinked slightly.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. Why was the dice-master surprised? He had already said that he liked Haruka, which he did, and a second date was just a second date. On their first date he had gotten to know her just well enough to realize he wanted to get to know her even more. It was an interesting feeling actually; he couldn't remember feeling like that in a long time. Except possibly for when he met Otogi again after all those years.

"Yes," Kaiba simply said, still a bit cautious. "Will you arrange the date or should I take the initiative?"

"Why don't you," Otogi said, and if Kaiba hadn't caught the cold undertone in his voice he would've thought it simply was a dare. Now he became a bit more interested.

"Well, do you want to meet up again afterwards –?" Kaiba barely had enough time to finish that sentence.

"Not if you don't want to. I mean, since I don't really know her anymore and I shouldn't pry in your private life, I guess I don't have the rights to know what's going on." The green eyed man stood up, albeit a bit hesitantly. "I should get going; I have a business meeting later today and I have to prepare myself. Goodbye."

"Ryuji…"

Otogi stopped; half-way turned around, and turned his head to be able to meet Kaiba's eyes. His blue eyes showed off so much emotion – sadness, hurt, longing – even though his face was blank; Otogi knew his own eyes probably showed exactly how he felt as well, and he let them.

Seconds passed, but it could've been hours. Otogi felt how it became harder to breathe; his vision was starting to get blurry.

And then finally:

"Nevermind."

_That's what I thought_, Otogi thought bitterly as he turned around again and walked out of there. The part about the business meeting had been a lie of course – he practically never had meetings like that and even if he did he didn't need to prepare himself. But even if it hadn't been a lie Kaiba still wouldn't have cared, would he?

Not that Otogi cared about whether Kaiba cared. Or well, he did, it was just that…

Otogi sat down heavily on the car seat and closed the door with a slam, but ended up sitting there in silence, staring at the steering wheel instead of driving off. He was vaguely aware that he was squeezing the car keys so hard it hurt, but didn't particularly care.

He wanted to go back in there. He wanted to go back in there so badly; go back to Kaiba and ask him, _beg_ him to know what the other brunet truly wanted and what he was going to do. Otogi didn't know – would Kaiba date Haruka? Would the cooperation between their companies stand? Would the two of them still be friends? It wasn't like they had a fight again, but Otogi still felt as if Kaiba had slipped away from him in nothing but seconds. Maybe that meant they had never been truly close to one another.

As much as he hated it, Otogi could feel his eyes begin to water up again, and he angrily rubbed them with the back of his hands. Damn, it was a long time ago anyone had been able to stir up so much emotion in him – at both ends of the spectrum.

Without thinking more about it, Otogi furiously shoved the key into the keyhole and started the car before driving off with screeching tires.

In the window of the café, Kaiba watched him leave, and sighed heavily with his eyes closed.

* * *

><p>Otogi hated being alone, and he opened the Black Clown in pure desperation despite the fact that it was Sunday. He had gotten a few costumers as well, mostly people passing by who were surprised the game shop was open – most of them didn't actually buy anything, but somehow Otogi managed to make them stay and chat for a while.<p>

That still wasn't enough.

The only one who seemed to be able to satisfy Otogi's need for an intelligent conversation – which was what he wanted – was Kaiba. And of course Otogi was too proud to call Kaiba. The other CEO hadn't contacted him since they saw each other at the café, but Otogi knew he had been on another date with Haruka.

For starters it had been all over the newspapers. Kaiba really didn't seem to be making an effort to hide his date this time – which worried Otogi. Did that mean he was being serious? Or he all of a sudden simply didn't mind the media snooping around his private life? But the worst part was that several big magazines still were convinced Kaiba had been dating Otogi himself, which led to the dice-master being attacked by reporters who wanted the truth. Otogi, obviously not in the mood, had denied all interviews and thereby only increased the rumors.

Otogi didn't care. Or to be precise; he didn't care at the moment. He was still angry/upset enough to want the other brunet more or less out of his life.

The real problems didn't start until a couple of days later. Otogi went into withdrawal, even though he would never admit it to anyone and barely even himself.

He _needed_ to see Kaiba. He hated himself for it, but he hated not having the CEO of Kaiba Corp. around to talk with and tease and maybe even discreetly flirt a little with. Yes, he could no admit that maybe he had been flirting with the other. Otogi liked playing games and Kaiba did as well.

Luck for once seemed to not be on his side as Otogi did everything he could in order to decide whether he should call Kaiba or not. He rolled dice, picked the petals off flowers, drew cards and picked random numbers. Every single time it always came down to him calling Kaiba – which was what he wanted. Or not. He couldn't decide what he wanted!

Of course he wanted to call the brunet but his stupid pride hindered him every time. The closest he came was picking up the phone and entering every number but the last one. Then he had changed his mind and hung up again.

He hated himself when he was like this. He wished he could be like Kaiba; he took a decision and stood by it, no matter what happened. Otogi wished he had the same willpower, the same strength, the same dedication and… he wished he had Kaiba, goddamnit.

Otogi sat on his couch, the phone lying on a pillow next to him, and stared down at the floor when something black but blurry suddenly came into his vision. He blinked and managed to focus on it. It was Bastet of course. He knew deep down inside that she was only a cat, but still… that green-eyed look she gave him…

"_You know, she reminds me of someone."_

"_Who?"_

_Kaiba simply smirked at him and raised an eyebrow._

Before he managed to fully think about what it was he was about to do, Otogi reached for the phone as quickly as he could and entered the number to Kaiba's personal cellphone with hands that trembled just a little.

One dial tone… two… three…

Just as Otogi was on the verge of hanging up he heard a click, then silence, and then a voice so cold you could break it into pieces and put it in your drink said:

"Yes?"

Even at his near-panic state Otogi couldn't help but feel a flutter in his chest at the sound of the other's voice, no matter how harsh and unwelcoming it might've sounded.

"Seto?" he questioned quietly.

"Yes," Kaiba said on the other end of the line, and his voice really did sound softer this time. The CEO of Kaiba Corp. honestly couldn't stand it when Otogi sounded so miserable – it was so unlike him in every possible way.

"Would you, I don't know… would you like to go to a restaurant with me? Tonight?"

"I can't, I'm seeing Haruka tonight."

"Oh," Otogi said and felt a small pang of… _something_ as Kaiba used Haruka's first name. It was okay for Otogi; he had been dating her quite seriously before, but Kaiba… "Well, tomorrow then?"

"I can't tomorrow either. In fact, I don't think I can during this whole week."

"Oh," Otogi repeated and his mouth started working on its own as his brain shut off. "Well, I guess we'll see each other when we have the time."

"Yes, we will." That was a lie and they both knew it. "Goodbye Otogi."

"Bye."

The other hung up in Otogi's ear, leaving him staring out in space and listening to the endless beep of the dial tone.

_Otogi._

Said person dropped the phone on the floor and bent over, covering his face with his hands. His whole body was trembling.

It wasn't _fair_! It wasn't fair how Kaiba could be so bloody cold and emotionless and get out of things like this without a single scratch. If this was the way he was than he was worse than all the rumors surrounding Otogi himself – those rumors said he could go from person to person without ever looking back or hesitating, and he was nothing like that at all! By the looks of things right now, Kaiba was the one who was like that.

Otogi had never thought he could be like that. Okay, maybe he had. Maybe he had back then; all those years ago when he _didn't_ know Kaiba and honestly thought just like everyone else that he had been cold and ruthless. But he had changed – or at least Otogi thought he had changed.

Had he been wrong? Had he really been _that_ wrong?

_No. I haven't._ was the single coherent thought running through Otogi's mind as he suddenly felt something touch his cheek for a brief moment. He instinctively reached up and caught hold of the dice hanging from his ear – the dice he had gotten from Kaiba.

That was proof enough he had changed. So why had he changed back so easily?

Otogi wouldn't start crying. He hadn't cried in years, and Kaiba would not be the reason he started now. Instead he simply lay down on the couch, his eyes so dark you couldn't even tell they were green as he stared out into space, completely lost in dark thoughts. His cat Bastet jumped up next to him and lay down as well, but he barely noticed.

The only thing he could think of as he lay there was how Kaiba's eyes must've looked like when he said Otogi's name – cold, and lifeless.


	10. Ice cream

"Ryuji?"

Otogi's heart nearly stopped. But the voice on the other end of the line continued on without his answer.

"Would you please let me take you to dinner tonight?"

"Yes," Otogi finally managed to breathe.

"Good," Kaiba responded and the dice-master could hear the smile on his lips. "I'll pick you up at seven." He hung up.

Otogi was left, yet again, staring out in space and listening to the dial tone. But this time, an incredulous smile started spreading across his face. His small chuckle turned into an outright laugh and his watery eyes were starting to fill up, spilling tears down his cheeks. He didn't care about the fact that he hadn't cried in years and that he had promised himself Kaiba wouldn't be the reason – because this was different.

He eventually calmed down, dried the tears away from his cheeks and simply looked at the phone in his hands for several minutes, still with a small but truly happy smile on his face.

The wave of relief that had rolled over him when he heard Kaiba utter his name – his _first_ name – was pretty ridiculous. But ever since the last time they spoke, about a week ago, Otogi had been wandering around in a world of misery. He didn't even know what he had done – he knew he had the Black Clown open because he always did, but he couldn't remember selling anything or speaking to any of the customers. He couldn't remember going outside or feeding Bastet, but he must've done since she was lying comfortably next to him on the couch.

It really was ridiculous, he thought. He couldn't even remember what he used to do before Kaiba came into his life. Ever since then it had been nothing but dinners and lunches and the occasional coffee at the café Otogi liked so much. Otogi liked it like that. He could really stand living his life like that; seeing Kaiba like that… it was almost like… almost like dating him.

Otogi's smile slowly faded, his eyes widening instead.

* * *

><p>Kaiba picked him up at seven, just like he had promised to.<p>

Ever since more than one hour earlier Otogi had been running around his house trying to get ready. Bastet had been watching him with vague interest from her spot on the couch as he ran around, trying to find his best clothes and best shoes, and the die he had gotten from Kaiba, only to realize he still had it hanging from his ear. He knew Kaiba would probably have a good laugh, but in the end – after trying his way through every piece of clothing in his closet – he still went with his usual vest and red headband.

When he heard the other CEO's car stop down at the parking lot and Kaiba honked twice to get his attention his heart skipped a beat and then started beating twice its usual pace.

"Coming!" he yelled out of an open window, not knowing if Kaiba could actually hear him or not. Taking the stairs in two steps at the time he ran down and out of the door, not even giving Kaiba a chance to turn off the engine.

The brunet – who actually wasn't wearing his usual white coat – did look a bit surprised, but then smiled as Otogi tore open the door and got in as fast as he could. Then the dice-master caught the look on Kaiba's face and felt a blush spread rapidly across his face.

"Hi," he breathed and leaned forward. Kaiba turned his head a little in surprise and suddenly Otogi became completely hypnotized by how perfect Kaiba's lips were. They were thin but had a pink tint to them – and seeing a smile on those lips was a rarity and should be treated as one. Otogi was getting closer by the millisecond and he couldn't seem to stop himself; it seemed like both him and Kaiba had stopped breathing. Otogi's eyes went over Kaiba's flawless face, taking in every single little detail; from the near-invisible beauty spot next to his mouth to his thick, dark eyelashes. He could tell Kaiba was doing the same towards him, even though it became harder to see and his vision got blurry as they came closer.

At the final moment, Otogi managed to turn his head just enough so their lips wouldn't touch, and he hugged the blue eyed man; their cheeks pressing against one another instead.

Kaiba hugged him back, but almost hesitantly.

"Where are we going?" Otogi asked once he had pulled back, shutting the door and putting on his seat belt in order to hide his flushed face.

"I was thinking we could go to the café you like so much."

"Really?" Otogi turned back to Kaiba with a wide smile and found that the other brunet was smiling towards him again. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome," Kaiba said and seemed pleased Otogi was so happy with his choice.

Since it was getting late there wasn't a lot of people at the café, but they chose a table at the furthest back anyway, one with comfortable sofas, candles and dim lights. Otogi had to admit he didn't quite like not being able to see Kaiba's face properly, but other than that it was perfect.

However, Kaiba was nothing like he had been during the car-ride there; now he was quiet again and wouldn't really meet Otogi's eyes. He studied his food as he ate and it seriously bothered Otogi. Was the other brunet already regretting that he wanted to meet Otogi again?

"I'm… sorry we couldn't see each other last week." Otogi blinked and looked at Kaiba, who met his eyes. Was he apologizing? "I know I said I was busy, but that's not an excuse not to see you." He looked sincere. Otogi simply watched him for a moment before he managed to put on his usual smile.

"It's alright."

"It is?" If Otogi hadn't known better he would've said Kaiba sounded just a little bit hurt, and he was frowning.

"It is now." Otogi smiled towards the other CEO and after just a beat Kaiba smiled back. The dice-master was suddenly over-powered by the urge to _touch_ Kaiba. The feeling was so strange and sudden he couldn't do anything other than stare at the brunet for a moment before he realized what he was doing and looked down on his plate. That was odd. He _had_ hugged Kaiba earlier, but before that it was more than a week he had even _seen_ him, and it was almost like… well, it was almost like he had withdrawal symptoms.

Then Otogi suddenly felt a surprisingly warm hand cover his own – which was lying on the table – and he looked up to meet strangely worried blue eyes.

"Are you alright?"

Otogi stared. And then he smiled such a dazzling, bright smile Kaiba suddenly found himself having a hard time breathing for a moment.

"I am now."

Kaiba smiled slightly but waited for a second before he pulled back his hand. Somehow he didn't want to lose the body contact.

After that the conversation rolled on like it always had. It was like they hadn't even stopped seeing each other; it was like it always had been, and Otogi loved every single minute of it. They spoke about DDM and Duel Monsters, and about the new Duel Disk they were going to design together. Otogi kept coming up with bad name ideas, and Kaiba kept turning them down. But they eventually finished eating, and hesitantly went out of the café just as it was closing.

Otogi definitely didn't feel like going home, and he could tell Kaiba didn't either. The dice-master was just about to ask if the other wanted to go catch a movie or something when he spotted something across the street. There was a large park, and right in front of them, almost hidden behind a few trees, was an ice cream bar.

"Let's go have ice cream!"

"What?" was all Kaiba managed to say before he was dragged across the street by Otogi, who didn't care the slightest about passing cars. "I'm not sure if –"

"Come on, don't be such a bore!"

Kaiba opened his mouth to protest, but then closed it again and smiled ever so slightly. He bought a pair of ice cones for himself and Otogi – the green eyed man chose three different kinds of chocolate while Kaiba went with plain vanilla. He could tell Otogi didn't approve of his choice, but he said nothing. They ate under silence, walking around the near empty park, enjoying the atmosphere. It was dusk, and everything was colored in beautiful pink and orange colors. The air was warm and a few fireflies were emerging from their hiding places, flying around the street lights.

"You've got ice cream on your nose," Otogi suddenly said.

"Do I?" Kaiba sounded genuinely surprised, especially since he had been eating with such delicacy in order to avoid just that. He briefly crossed his eyes to be able to see the tip of his own nose and Otogi immediately took advantage of the opportunity, shoving his own ice cream up Kaiba's face.

"You do now."

"Argh! G – Otogi! You –!" Kaiba sputtered.

Otogi laughed in childlike delight and handed the other CEO a napkin. The taller brunet wiped off his nose with as much dignity as possible and then gave Otogi a dark look, but couldn't stop himself from smirking.

"Hm? Well, _you've_ got ice cream on your precious vest."

Otogi snorted and continued licking his ice cream. Kaiba tried not to look at his tongue darting in and out between his lips.

"I'm not falling for that."

"Really? And risk walking around looking like a total slob?"

The dice-master hesitated. Kaiba knew he wouldn't fall for that, so why was he trying? Was he actually telling the truth? Otogi definitely didn't want to walk around with an ice cream spot on his vest, which he actually liked _a lot_. He bit his lip and could tell Kaiba was having fun at his struggle with himself. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and looked down. Kaiba immediately flicked his finger over the tip of Otogi's nose, making him blink and jerk away with a surprised sputter.

Kaiba gave up a surprisingly loud laugh and Otogi shot him an angry glare.

"Come on. We're even now."

"We'll never be even," Otogi said, but with a smile. He bumped into Kaiba, who nearly lost his balance, but Otogi snuck his arm around Kaiba's and kept him close.

They continued walking down the path, arm in arm.

Eventually they finished eating their ice creams and the sun set, leaving the two of them in a small spot of light from one of the streetlights. The park was completely deserted now, but still filled with nightly sounds. If Otogi had been alone he probably would've thought it was a bit scary, but fortunately he the best company he could imagine.

"You've got some ice cream there," Otogi said, turning towards the other brunet. He was being sincere this time, and Kaiba could tell. Besides, it wasn't like Otogi actually thought Kaiba would fall for the same trick twice.

"Whe –"

Otogi honestly didn't know what it was that made him do it, but he grabbed the other's shoulders in order to pull himself up and covered the tiny spot of ice cream at the corner of Kaiba's mouth with his lips. Kaiba's question trailed off into a surprised sound and Otogi's tongue flicked out, licking off the ice cream. Then he pulled away with one of his usual smirks on his face, but his insides were a knot.

Oh God, what had possessed him to do something so scandalous? That might've been alright with someone he was actually dating, someone more flirtatious, but he definitely wasn't dating the brunet standing in front of him, and he definitely wasn't the flirtatious type – he was serious and inscrutable and –

Almost instantly, Kaiba bent forward and kissed Otogi properly. It was still nothing but a light kiss, but Otogi grasped at Kaiba's shirt and closed his eyes tight as it felt as if his stomach soared away in pure bliss. He could feel Kaiba's hands at his hips, holding him securely in place and bringing their bodies closer.

When they parted their cheeks were flushed and their breaths sped up. They looked at each other for a dazed moment, Otogi's hands still firmly wrapped around the fabric of Kaiba's shirt and the other CEO's hands still gripping his hips. The dice-master was completely knocked off guard by the amount of emotion he could see in Kaiba's blue eyes – there was happiness and desire, but sadness as well and maybe even anger. Otogi quickly realized his own eyes probably looked about the same, since he had no idea what he felt at the moment.

God, Otogi had kissed both men and women before, but never like _this_. He couldn't understand that, how could one simple kiss do that to him? How could one small kiss make him feel _so much_ at once? He knew the first kiss with someone else was always the most powerful one, but it still shocked him speechless. This was almost like his very first kiss, many years ago, but it was even more powerful still.

That amount of power scared Otogi, just like Kaiba's eyes had scared him back when he first saw that almost uncontrollable desire in them.

Otogi drew in a deep breath, gulped and gently pushed himself away from Kaiba a little, backing off a few steps. The other CEO immediately let him go, even though Otogi could tell he didn't want to. The dice-master kept his eyes at his own hands, still placed on Kaiba's chest, as he spoke.

"I don't think… w-we can't… You have a girlfriend," he finally said when his brain reached for the one piece of coherent information it could grasp at the moment.

"I know," Kaiba responded quietly and it was hard to decide whether he sounded angry or sad. Either way, he didn't sound too happy. "… But I can't stay away from you." His voice suddenly sounded so pained, it tore at Otogi's heart.

"We shouldn't…" Otogi begun, hesitated and then took yet another step back, his hands falling down, before he continued. "If we can't see each other without something like this happening… and you've got a girlfriend… we probably shouldn't… we probably shouldn't see each other." The last part came out as nothing but a whisper, yet he was sure Kaiba had heard.

Kaiba stayed quiet, which scared Otogi even more. He would have been able to deal with it if the CEO of Kaiba Corp. had gotten mad and started yelling, but this was ten times worse. He definitely _didn't_ know how to deal with this.

But then he heard the other sigh deeply.

"I know."

For the first time, Otogi looked up and met Kaiba's eyes. Even though he tried to hide it, his eyes gave him away – the dice-master had never seen the other so disheartened. Yet again he felt a tug at his heart, telling him that what he was doing was wrong and that he should stop before either of them got seriously hurt.

"Goodbye, Ryuji." Kaiba leaned forward again and pressed his lips against Otogi's forehead. They were surprisingly warm. Otogi he closed his eyes – couldn't help it; it felt so _good_.

When he finally looked up again Kaiba was already walking away from him, his head held high and his back straight, but there was something in his steps and the simple fact that he was walking away that made tears well up in Otogi's eyes.

And yet Otogi simple stood there, watching what could've been the love of his life walk away from him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So cute, so fluffy, so angsty ^3^  
>In case you haven't read on my profile I'll go ahead and tell you here as well. I'm writing a book as my final project in school, and I've calculated that I need to write one chapterweek - as in at least one page/day - in order to be able to finish it on time.

I'm so sorry, you guys. I'll do what I can but I'll update when I update.


	11. Kiss me

It was surprising, because Otogi didn't react the way he thought he would.

He didn't get his usual fit of rage where he screamed and yelled at everything trying to get close to him (or trying to get away from him). He didn't toss things around or break things. He didn't shut himself off from the outside world, sinking down in his own private little sphere of misery, not noticing what happened around him and not caring either.

He didn't cry. He had promised that he wouldn't cry because of Kaiba and so, he didn't cry. He didn't even sit on his couch for days, with Bastet as his only company, and stare out into nothingness. He didn't mope for a few days before crawling back to the person he had wronged and he didn't beg for forgiveness.

He continued like he always had; he opened the shop and stood behind the counter, greeting every costumer with a smile and helping them finding what they wanted, before sending them off with another smile. He continued seeing his friends, challenging them to a game of DDM but in vain, since in the end they always ended up playing Duel Monsters instead. He laughed and talked and carried on like he always had.

At least on the outside.

But the pain in Otogi's heart grew bigger and bigger; the hole in his chest grew wider and wider. Even though he continued on like normally he could feel reality slip further and further away from him; he became less and less aware of what he was doing. The smile never truly reached his emerald eyes; the conversations sounded meaningless in his ears.

He hadn't crawled back to Kaiba to beg for forgiveness.

Not yet.

* * *

><p>"I can't do it."<p>

Otogi was lying on the sofa, looking up at the ceiling. Bastet was lying next to him; other than that there was no one around. She lazily studied her master, decided she had no idea what he was talking about, and closed her eyes before resting her head on her paws.

"I have to tell him how I feel."

No response from the cat.

"But he hasn't even _tried_ to contact me."

More silence.

"Then again, I haven't contacted him either."

Bastet yawned but didn't even look up.

"How can it be so easy for him to just leave me like that?"

Otogi rolled over to his stomach, which Bastet noticed. She opened her green eyes. The two of them watched each other for a long moment – Otogi trying to see some sort of answer in his cat's eyes. Kaiba had told him Bastet reminded him of Otogi himself – maybe the cat knew what to do?

Finally, Otogi rolled his eyes and turned over on his back again with a groan. That's it. He was going mad; talking to Bastet like she knew what was going on and actually expecting an answer. It was the answer part that was weird – just talking with the cat was fine. Everyone else did it.

With a deep sigh of part misery, part annoyance, the brunet rolled off the sofa and managed to somehow land on his feet. He looked around in the room like he'd never been there before; he had always liked his apartment but now he was suddenly growing tired of it – he needed a change of scenery. Otogi slowly walked up to the shelf with all the dice and stopped right in front of it.

This was his life. There was no other way of describing it; from the pair he had stolen at the orphanage to the one he'd gotten from Kohaku on his birthday – they all represented his life. On the lowest shelf, to the furthest right, Otogi had carefully placed the die he had gotten from Kaiba; it was definitely one of the precious ones, and the green eyed man had no doubt Kaiba had it custom made just for him.

The problem was… every die on the shelf represented a part of his life that had already passed. He was long gone from the orphanage; he had broken up with his girl- and boyfriends; his birthdays had passed and even his cooperation with other companies had met their ends. And apparently, so had his relationship with Kaiba.

Otogi clenched his fists and straightened up a bit. He gulped. Then he quickly reached down and took Kaiba's die before securely fastening it to his ear again.

He wasn't ready to let the other brunet out of his life just yet.

* * *

><p>Otogi, of course, managed to change his mind both once and twice while he was driving over to Kaiba's place. He knew he wanted to see the other CEO and he knew he wanted to speak to him – but he didn't know what he would say. That was what made him hesitate. He still wasn't sure as to what exactly he felt for Kaiba, but he enjoyed being with him <em>so much<em>… at least he knew he didn't want him to date Haruka, or anyone else for that matter. In Otogi's mind, Kaiba belonged to one person and one person alone – Otogi himself.

The dice-master had gotten the code to the main gates since he came there so often, and Kaiba had grown tired of Otogi calling him from the gates, pleading to be let in. But even if he could get through there, he still had to knock on the doors, since he didn't have a key. Kaiba had said he had considered giving one to Otogi, but that he didn't want to get completely caught off guard if the brunet randomly decided to show up without any kind of warning. Both Kaiba and Otogi had known that probably would've happened.

That time, Otogi had laughed it off. Now he paused standing in front of the doors, briefly looking up at the dark windows of the mansion and wondering if Kaiba even was home. Maybe he was on another date with Haruka. The thought made him clench his fists, and he determinedly knocked on the door.

He could hear the sound echo throughout the mansion and the courage he had suddenly gotten abruptly disappeared again. Otogi wasn't quite aware that he was doing it, but as he waited he was playing with a strand of hair.

It took quite a while before he could hear something on the other side of the door, but Otogi forced himself to remain where he was. He couldn't run away now. When the door finally swung open Otogi took a deep breath to calm himself down and then met Kaiba's blue eyes. The CEO of Kaiba. Corp looked slightly surprised, and he was only wearing a pair of pants; his chest bare. It _was_ fairly early in the morning – by Otogi's standards that was; Kaiba should've been out of bed hours ago – and the green-eyed man couldn't help but get an ill-boding feeling in his stomach.

"Ryuji?" Kaiba wondered and said person let out his breath again as he heard his first name. "I thought you said –"

"I know what I said and I know what I did!" Otogi said and waved a hand, cutting off Kaiba mid-sentence. The brunet's surprised face was replaced by a small frown. The dice-master forced himself to calm down and took a step closer, standing on the threshold now. "… And I'm sorry." He searched Kaiba's blue eyes for any kind of emotion as he continued. "I shouldn't have – I-I mean… I never wanted to… But I don't want you to date her. I want you… I want you for myself. I can't explain it any other way, I just…" Otogi trailed off and looked away, his throat thick, and he ran his fingers through his hair.

Kaiba's expression softened.

"Ryuji, I –"

"Who is it, Seto?"

Both Otogi and Kaiba froze – the latter's eyes showing sheer terror and panic while the dice-master's were wide in shock.

Haruka appeared behind Kaiba, cautiously peeping over his shoulder. He face lit up as she saw who it was, and she greeted Otogi warmly. The green-eyed man hardly heard her; he looked at her in deep disbelief – she was only wearing a big shirt, obviously belonging to Kaiba, and her otherwise straight hair was ruffled.

Otogi would know that look anywhere. He'd seen it dozens of times, heck, he'd even worn it a couple of times.

Kaiba hadn't taken his blue eyes off Otogi and saw the other make the connection.

"Ryuji…" he begun. Otogi simply held up a hand and Kaiba stopped speaking as if he had been hit. It practically felt like it as well – even though his face was a stone mask the hurt he saw in Otogi's emerald eyes was almost too make for him to take. Without saying another word, Otogi turned around and walked away, his head held high.

Kaiba's heart nearly broke at the sight.

"Seto, what's wrong?" Haruka said quietly and gently touched Kaiba's shoulder. She was smart enough to figure out that something was wrong, but she couldn't know what exactly since she didn't know about half the things that had happened between the two CEOs.

Kaiba couldn't bring himself to reply – he watched Otogi walk calmly down the path to the gates, never hesitating and never looking back. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't just let the other brunet walk away from him like that, but at the same time it felt wrong to try and follow him. He couldn't expect Otogi to simply forgive him after all that had happened.

He had never felt so powerless in his whole _life_ and it was threatening to tear him to pieces – if he didn't do something now it would be too late, but if he tried to do something and failed he would just push Otogi way even further. He couldn't believe he had been so incredibly stupid; ever since the first time they met he should've realized what he wanted, and even more; what Otogi wanted. The truth was… that he… he really did…

Kaiba forced himself to look away from Otogi's back for a moment and turned around to face Haruka instead. She had a slight frown on her face; Kaiba could imagine she didn't like not knowing what was going on.

"I have to go. I'm sorry," was all Kaiba managed to say. He pressed his lips against her forehead for a split second before quickly taking a jacket from the coat-hanger next to the door.

Without ever looking back, Kaiba left Haruka standing there in the doorframe and went out, hurrying down the path to follow Otogi, putting on the jacket as he went. The other was surprisingly quick – he had just passed through the gates and turned left, blocked out of view by the massive pillars for a second. Before Otogi managed to get out on the other side, Kaiba turned around the pillar as well and caught up with him. Reaching out, he grabbed Otogi's arm and made him stop and spin around with an expression of complete shock written over his face – apparently he hadn't expected to be followed.

"Ryuji –" Kaiba immediately begun, because he knew Otogi wouldn't give him much time to explain.

"What are you doing? Get off me!" Otogi said and tried to get loose, squirming out of Kaiba's grip. But the CEO's grip only tightened even more; now he was holding on to both of Otogi's arms, securely holding him in place.

"No," Kaiba said sternly and Otogi instantly stopped struggling. Kaiba could tell the other was a bit surprised over how harsh his voice had sounded – but he really just wanted Otogi to listen to him for once. "I won't let you go again."

Calm but sorrowful sapphire eyes met hurtful emerald ones, but there was a small trace of hope glimmering deep down in Otogi's eyes. Kaiba loosened his grip, because he knew Otogi wouldn't try to move away again – at least not until Kaiba said something wrong again. He had to choose his words very carefully.

"I know what you think. But I won't say 'it's not what it looks like'… because it is." Otogi looked as if he wanted to take a step back and his eyes were starting to glance over, but Kaiba let go of one of his shoulders and reached up to be able to cup his cheek instead, keeping the eye contact. He knew what he was doing was dangerous; they were hidden from sight by the pillar, but what if Haruka decided to follow them as well?

"Please listen to me before you make your decision. I'm not blaming you; I'll never blame you… but you were the one who said we shouldn't see each other. You rejected me, and I thought you didn't want me. I did what you told me to and stayed away, because I thought that would make you happy. But obviously… it didn't, and I don't know what to do now. Don't you get it? You literally have to tell me what to do – what can I do to make you happy?"

He couldn't voice his feelings any other way; he just hoped Otogi would understand. If Kaiba staying away from him would make him happy, then Kaiba would gladly stay away. He'd honestly do anything for the other brunet at this point, even if it meant securing his own misery.

Otogi had tears glimmering in by the corners of his eyes, and he simply looked up at Kaiba without saying anything for a very long while. The CEO of Kaiba Corp. eventually started to get worried, not just because Otogi might not answer him, but because for every moment they stayed out there together it became more and more likely that someone would discover them. They _were_ standing right outside the Kaiba mansion after all, and it was a wonder no reporters were around.

Then, finally, a barely audible whisper:

"Kiss me."

There wasn't even a split second of doubt; the moment the words left Otogi's lips Kaiba bent down and covered them with his own. His hands came up to cup the other's cheeks, and he could feel tears spill down from Otogi's eyes, run down over his cheeks and onto Kaiba's hands. The dice-master's hands grasped around his waist and brought him closer, their bodies touching.

He could almost feel Otogi's longing, his desperation, through the kiss – and even though the amount of feelings scared him a bit it made him raise his hopes as well. Maybe Otogi truly wanted him as well, after all that had happened.

Kaiba could barely believe it was happening – he could barely believe he had gotten what he wanted after such a long time. He had never in his life imagined he could long so much after someone else, least of all Otogi, but he didn't regret anything or wished that anything had been different from what it was. He was right where he wanted to be.

They finally parted, with great reluctance, and only because they needed air. They still stayed as close as possible, however, the tips of their noses still touching. Kaiba gently moved his thumbs over Otogi's cheeks, drying away his tears.

The blue-eyed man dared to smile ever so slightly.

"I love you, Ryuji."

Otogi drew in a sharp breath. Then he collapsed against Kaiba's body, winding his arms around his waist and almost crushing his ribs. He hid his face in Kaiba's shoulder and cried quietly, his whole body trembling. Kaiba tightened his hold on him as well and buried his nose in Otogi's hair, drawing in the scent of it and simply enjoyed being close to him. He assumed this meant Otogi cared for him as well, and that he wanted him back.

After a few moments, however, Kaiba couldn't help but become restless. As much as he loved being right where he was, they were still standing just outside his house, and sooner or later Haruka would start to wonder where he had gone. He gently pushed the other brunet away, but made sure to still have his arms around him so Otogi wouldn't believe something was wrong. The look Otogi gave him, his eyes brimmed with tears, still told him he didn't understand.

"We can't stay here," Kaiba whispered and reached up to be able to brush his fingers over Otogi's cheek. "It's too dangerous. Everyone still thinks I love Haruka."

"Seto…" Otogi murmured and raised his head slightly, their lips brushing again, but much softer this time. "I know," he sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'll meet you later, I promise." Kaiba looked directly into Otogi's eyes and made sure the other knew he was telling the truth. He really did love Otogi, but it was too dangerous for the both of them to stay where they were at the moment. After a brief moment of eye contact and quiet, mutual understanding, Kaiba grudgingly started to pull away from Otogi, only to be stopped by the dice-master. Otogi caught his jacket in a firm grip and yanked him closer, kissing him roughly.

Kaiba couldn't help but moan and completely give in, opening his mouth and letting Otogi ravish him to his heart's content. So far, every time they kissed it had been different – they had gone from insecure and gentle to demanding and dominating in no time – and Kaiba couldn't decide which he liked best. Otogi broke away by biting his lower lip lightly – Kaiba had to control himself not to squirm out of pure pleasure – and gave him a look that was nothing but _hungry_. Both of them were completely out of breath and Otogi had quite a luscious blush spread over his cheeks.

"I love you too, you know," Otogi said and sounded more confident than Kaiba had heard him in quite a while. The blue-eyed man couldn't help but smile.

"I know," he whispered and kissed the corner of Otogi's mouth before finally breaking away, turning around and walking back to something he no longer wanted.

He now had something much, much better.


	12. Dangerous games

When Kaiba woke up the first thing he became aware of was that something was lying right on top of him, weighing him down and making it slightly hard to breathe. Perplexed, he opened his eyes and found that he wasn't in his own bedroom – this room was much smaller, but lighter; there weren't much on the walls except for a poster or two, and besides the bed there was only a small bureau in there.

And there was a person lying half on top of him.

Otogi, to be more precise.

His head was resting on Kaiba's chest, right above his heart; he had one arm thrown over his stomach and the other near Kaiba's shoulder. Kaiba's arm was completely caught underneath the weight of Otogi's body and he couldn't feel it at all. But using his other hand he reached up and brushed away the other brunet's hair – which wasn't in a pony-tail for once – and saw that Otogi's eyes were peacefully closed.

Kaiba smiled ever so slightly at the sight, but then a jolt of panic suddenly went through his stomach and his smile faded. Why exactly were he and Otogi sleeping in the same bed? Did they –? Had they really –?

No, it wasn't possible. He couldn't remember _anything_ like that happening. The only thing that had happened was that Kaiba had told Haruka that he was going to work and he had gone home to Otogi instead, spending the entire day there with the person he loved. Even if they had, say, gotten drunk and actually… He wasn't feeling hung-over or anything.

No, it wasn't possible. He had to trust himself and Otogi that they wouldn't do something like that.

He suddenly heard Otogi draw in a deep breath and let it out again in a contented sigh. He tightened his hold on Kaiba and shifted a little before his eyes fluttered and opened fully. Kaiba smiled down towards him.

"Good morning," he whispered. Otogi blinked, but then a small but truly happy smile started spreading across his lips. Instead of answering he reached up and caught Kaiba's lips with his own, kissing him softly and sweetly.

"'Morning," he whispered once he finally pulled away. He tightened his hold on Kaiba yet again and stretched out against his body, enjoying the warmth and closeness. He could hear the other brunet's heart beats underneath his ear, and that calmed him more than anything. Kaiba reached up and started running his fingers through his hair, and Otogi closed his eyes again with a contented sigh.

He didn't even know how long they lay together like that. Otogi felt like he wanted to make up for all the time he had lost with Kaiba, when he had been with Haruka instead. Also, it was such a long time ago he was this close to _anyone_ – he had almost forgotten how good it felt, how perfectly at peace with himself he could feel thanks to someone else.

"You're sighing," Kaiba suddenly said.

Otogi blinked and opened his eyes. He hadn't even noticed that he was, and propped himself up on his elbows to be able to look directly into Kaiba's eyes. He looked slightly worried. Otogi simply shook his head a little, not knowing what to say.

"I'm not…" he begun, but then stopped himself. "I'm happy. I don't…" He broke the eye contact, looking down at his own hands; he drew circles with the tips of his fingers over Kaiba's chest. His voice was nothing but a whisper when he spoke again. "I don't think I've ever been this happy."

There was a pause. And then Kaiba suddenly grabbed him tightly around his waist, drawing him up and over his body and pushing him down on his back on the other side. Otogi couldn't help but give up a small yelp of surprise, and then he suddenly had Kaiba on top of him, kissing him deeply and passionately. Otogi immediately closed his eyes and let out a moan of pleasure, but couldn't do much more when Kaiba's lips left his own and the brunet started mouthing his way along Otogi's jaw-line and down his neck. Kaiba licked and sucked, and Otogi couldn't stop himself from snickering as Kaiba probably left a hickey just below his ear.

Kaiba continued, kissing down his collarbone and placing a tender kiss just above his heart. All Otogi could do was try to not squirm under Kaiba's touch and kisses, especially when he dipped his tongue into his navel. Otogi didn't know if Kaiba knew just how ticklish he was, but he was about to find out.

Finally, Otogi couldn't hold it in any longer, and he started laughing out loud. Kaiba stopped what he was doing and looked up at Otogi with an incredulous but amused smile. Then he bent down again and started placing kisses all over Otogi's stomach, desperately trying to hold the smaller brunet in place as he shook and squirmed with laughter.

"Okay, okay! Stop, stop, stop!" Otogi eventually shouted. Kaiba chuckled but actually stopped, lying down on his stomach next to Otogi as the dice-master struggled to regain his breath. "You're an idiot," he finally declared and turned his head to meet Kaiba's eyes.

Kaiba simply smiled towards him, and Otogi couldn't help but smile back. He reached out and touched Kaiba's bare back, following his curves with his hand and admiring his flawless skin and figure. Kaiba closed his eyes, allowing Otogi to study his face as well.

God, he was beautiful. He was so much more than what all those girl-magazines said; he wasn't just hot or the most wanted man in Domino City or the bachelor of the month. He was perfection. Otogi knew it would probably take a while before he stopped looking at Kaiba, taking in every little detail and trying to memorize it. He just wanted to get to know every single thing about the other brunet, every curve, every beauty spot, every strand of hair.

He leaned forward and placed a kiss just by the corner of Kaiba's mouth, and he could feel his lips curving up into a smile.

"I'm going to go make us breakfast," Otogi whispered. They were only human after all, and right now he could feel a hunger for more than just Kaiba. He reluctantly separated from Kaiba after said person had only hummed in response and got out of bed.

His clothes were scattered all over the floor, much like usual, while Kaiba had carefully laid his on top of the bureau. Otogi shook his head and pulled on his jeans, knowing that Kaiba was watching him from the bed. Then he picked up his t-shirt, but he hesitated when he was going to put it on. He caught Kaiba's eyes for a split second and saw the amusement in them, and tossed the shirt away again.

Grinning, he went out of the bedroom and into the kitchen instead. Bastet was there, sitting by her food-bowls and waiting to get something to eat. Otogi gave her some food and put on the radio before he started making something for himself and Kaiba. The songs were vaguely familiar to him, but the volume was low. He could hear Kaiba getting out of bed in the room next door.

He looked up for a split second just as Kaiba went into the kitchen, but then looked down at the eggs and bacon he was frying, with a wide smile on his face. Kaiba hadn't put on a shirt either.

"What are you smiling about?" Kaiba wondered and Otogi could hear the smirk on his lips.

"Nothing," Otogi said and then let out a soft moan as Kaiba came up behind him, winding his arms around his waist and pressing their bodies together.

"Really?" Kaiba breathed and moved his lips over Otogi's bare shoulder, making him shudder.

"Really," Otogi said stubbornly and fought to keep his voice steady. He wasn't going to give up that easily. "Oh shit!" Smoke had started to rise from the frying pan, and Otogi quickly flipped the eggs over, revealing the completely burnt underside. Kaiba chuckled into his ear and Otogi groaned in frustration. The CEO of Kaiba Corp. completely ignored that Otogi was a bit busy and ran his hands down the smaller brunet's stomach, enjoying listening to his breath speed up. He couldn't resist sneaking his fingers down beneath the hem of Otogi's jeans, and a shiver went through the dice-master's body.

"Seto…" he breathed. "If you don't stop that I'm gonna whack you with the frying pan," Otogi said sweetly and grinned as Kaiba instantly froze, as if he really had been scared.

"I don't believe you," Kaiba finally whispered and nibbled at the lobe of his ear. Otogi bit his lip and closed his eyes. Why was Kaiba making it so hard all the time? … No pun intended of course.

"You're pushing your luck."

Kaiba waited for just a moment – he didn't want it to seem like he did what he did just because Otogi wanted to – and then pulled back, allowing the other to try and salvage the remains of their breakfast. He sat down by the kitchen island and simply watched Otogi move around. When he had been on his 'dates' with the dice-master he had felt happy and absolutely carefree, and it was just the same now – but ten times better. Otogi was _his_ now, and he would never let go.

"There," Otogi said and demonstratively put down the plate with the slightly burnt breakfast in front of Kaiba. He didn't say anything – it was like he could really complain – and started eating. He had to admit, he had definitely eaten better, but since it was Otogi who had been cooking it didn't matter.

Otogi was sitting next to him but they were both sitting half-turned around, so that even if their hands and upper bodies were busy their legs were still touching. It made Otogi completely warm inside, and he couldn't help but slowly move his foot up and down Kaiba's calf; he could see the other CEO's smirk from the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, a very loud melody started playing from nowhere, cutting through the radio and their peaceful silence. Otogi blinked and looked up just in time to see Kaiba carefully put down his fork before reaching down into his pocket and pulling out his cellphone. The music stopped abruptly as he opened it.

"Yes?" he said calmly. Otogi quietly watched him. He already knew who it was. "I'm at the office." A pause. "No, I worked late last night and didn't want to disturb you by coming home in the middle of the night so I slept here." Otogi looked down at his plated and poked around in his food. Suddenly he wasn't hungry anymore. "Yes, I promise I'll come home tonight… Yes, we can go to that restaurant. Okay. Bye."

There was a faint click as he hung up. Otogi was still not meeting his eyes.

"Ryuji… I'm sorry."

Otogi couldn't bring himself to look up. Why was life so difficult all the time? Why couldn't he and Kaiba just be together now that they had finally found each other and admitted their feelings for each other? It just wasn't fair.

He felt how Kaiba slid down from his chair, and then slender but strong fingers grabbed his chin and forced him to turn his head, facing Kaiba. The taller of the two looked down on him with complete seriousness; his eyes so blue, and so powerful.

"I love you," he said.

There was hardly anything romantic about it; there were no fluffy feelings, no chocolate, no roses. It wasn't a declaration of love and an eternal bond between them; he was just stating the simple fact that he truly did love Otogi. And yet, it meant more to Otogi than any of the love declarations he had ever gotten before, and to be honest, those were quite a lot.

Otogi closed his eyes and allowed himself to simply feel – feel Kaiba's lips brushing over his own, over his chin and cheeks, feel one of his hands still gripping his chin and holding him in place, and the other hand resting lightly on his thigh. Otogi spread his legs and allowed Kaiba to step closer, both of them winding their arms around each other.

"I love you too," Otogi murmured into Kaiba's chest and listened to the sound of his heart beats. Kaiba ran his fingers through his hair and Otogi couldn't help but letting out a sigh in contentment.

"… I have to go." Otogi grimaced and let out a displeased sound, tightening his hold around Kaiba's waist. "I know. But I'll break up with her as soon as possible, I promise. Then it will be just you and me."

After a moment of hesitation, Otogi pulled back from their embrace to be able to look up into Kaiba's eyes. He could see that he was honest, of course, but that wasn't what concerned him.

"Seto… be careful." Kaiba frowned slightly and Otogi continued. "She's smarter than you'd think. And tougher. And she knows exactly how to turn a setback into a profit, even something like this."

"Don't worry. I'll be careful."

Kaiba kissed him one final time before moving out of the kitchen and into the bedroom in order to retrieve the rest of his clothes. Otogi looked from his own plate to Kaiba's; neither one of them had eaten very much. He looked up again as Kaiba came back only moments later, fully clothed, but he didn't actually go into the kitchen again. Otogi followed him down the stairs to the front door, but there they stopped and simply looked at each other again.

Finally, Kaiba stepped closer and lightly kissed Otogi, because he couldn't stand saying goodbye again. At first, Otogi kissed him back just as softly, but then he increased the pressure and took a step forward, leaving Kaiba with no other choice than backing a bit. He found himself pressed up against the wall, Otogi completely ravishing him, demanding and dominating. His hands automatically ended up on the smaller brunet's hips, but he couldn't decide if he should push him away or pull him closer – it was getting a little too heated, but he loved it.

Otogi decided for him by grabbing his wrist and pinning him to the wall, rendering him utterly defenseless; he couldn't do anything other than trying to stop himself from squirming out of pure pleasure. The tiniest of whimpers escaped Kaiba as Otogi's mouth left his own and the dice-master started nipping and sucking along his jawline, and Kaiba could feel that he was smirking the whole time. Otogi went lower, placing an open-mouthed kiss just below his ear.

But then Kaiba's eyes suddenly snapped open and he started to struggle to get loose.

"Nngh – Otogi… d-don't…" At first it seemed pointless; Otogi was moving his lips up and down his neck just as fervently as before, but then there was a brief moment of hesitation. He gasped as Otogi's mouth disappeared from his skin just as quickly as it had appeared. The dice-master was still pressing him up against the wall, and both of them were panting quite heavily. Otogi was looking at him with eyes dark with more than just desire, and Kaiba couldn't help but gulped. "No hickeys."

Otogi's eyes narrowed.

Kaiba forced himself to calm down. Even though he loved Otogi and, quite honestly, wanted to do a lot more than just kiss him, they couldn't do it now. It was putting them both at risk, and they were already playing a dangerous game. Although… he already knew Otogi liked playing games, especially the ones which involved high bets. Oh God, he should've seen this coming.

Trying to satisfy the smaller brunet, Kaiba leaned forward and tenderly kissed him. Otogi definitely resisted at first, trying to speed up again, but Kaiba forced him to calm down as well. It took a while before the dice-master let go of his wrists, though.

Otogi sighed deeply once he finally let go of Kaiba and allowed the other brunet to rub his wrists. Kaiba cautiously watched him for a moment before deciding that he would be alright, eventually. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Otogi's forehead one final time before leaving.

The dice-master watched him go, and silently hoped he would come back, and soon.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** So much fluff C:

But I'm not kidding when I say the final (?) chapter will take a while. While I've been writing one page/day on my original story I've been writing about one paragraph of Emerald Roses/day. I'm so sorry ;_;

Goodness me, before I forget I was going to ask, and I hope you don't mind... Luna, where are you from? ;)


	13. The Truth

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay, guys! This is the final chapter ;_; So sad...

Luna: Your English is fine! I just noticed some things in it that made me think you were Scandinavian. But hey, I wasn't that far off, was I? ;)

* * *

><p>When Otogi woke up he was instantly overwhelmed with a feeling of peacefulness and happiness – because he remembered what had happened the day before. He and Kaiba had been together again, after several days of them not being able to see each other at all thanks to Haruka. But being away from one another for so long just made them appreciate the time they had together even more.<p>

He remembered lying there with Kaiba for what seemed like hours, simply sharing body warmth and slowly brushing his fingers over every inch of exposed skin before they fell asleep together.

But then Otogi noticed he was alone in bed. The sheets around him were cold, and he was as well. The feeling of tranquility immediately disappeared and was replaced by a grip of panic around his stomach and heart. His chest felt tight.

"Seto?" His voice was high-pitched; he couldn't help it. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked around, his long hair hanging down freely over his bare shoulder.

Otogi let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding when he saw Kaiba standing by the window, in nothing more than his boxers. It looked as if he had been up for a while, though. His eyes were completely focused on something outside and he had a small wrinkle between his eye brows. His arms were crossed over his chest.

"… Seto?" Otogi repeated, quieter this time. Only then did Kaiba actually react, as if he hadn't heard the first time. He blinked and snapped his head towards Otogi, who looked up at him in worry. Even though the initial panic had faded he still knew something was wrong. Kaiba simply held his gaze for a while, then looked out the window again and unfolded his arms.

"Ryuji… I'm sorry."

"… What's wrong?" When he didn't get a response he got up in sitting position and brushed his hair away from his face to be able to see the other brunet clearly. "You're scaring me, Seto," Otogi said truthfully. He wasn't just getting more and more anxious – he was getting angry as well. He didn't like when people didn't tell him what was going on, least of all when Kaiba did it.

Still not getting an answer, Otogi scrambled out of bed and walked up to Kaiba in two short steps. He opened his mouth to say something, to demand an answer, but the words died in his throat and he simply stared out the window.

The parking lot outside his game shop was filled with cars and vans – everywhere he looked he saw cameras, microphones and notepads. Most of them were just standing around, checking their equipment or exchanging information or phone numbers, but he could hear someone knocking at the door and the doorbell ringing. That must've been what woke him up.

"I'm so sorry."

Otogi looked up at Kaiba only to find that his eyes were closed and his face turned away. His whole body seemed to have tensed up and his fists were clenched. His chest was rising and sinking too much – it seemed unnatural, as if he was having trouble breathing. Otogi instantly reached up and touched his chin, grabbing it and forcing him to turn his head towards the smaller of the two. He still wouldn't open his eyes, though, and Otogi brought up his other hand as well and cupped Kaiba's cheeks.

"_Seto_," he said sternly and gently shook him ever so slightly. Kaiba opened his eyes but kept his gaze low, at Otogi's lips. "It doesn't matter. We're in this together, and no amount of reporters can change that." His voice softened and he tenderly made Kaiba look up to meet his eyes. "Do you understand me?"

He could see all the hurt, the angst and sadness in Kaiba's eyes, and it hurt him as well. He hated seeing him like that, much like he knew Kaiba hated seeing him sad. Kaiba had said he'd do anything to make Otogi happy, and it was exactly the same for Otogi.

Kaiba didn't answer, and Otogi did the only thing he knew – he stood up on the tips of his toes and gently kissed Kaiba square on the lips. It took a moment, but then the other CEO actually kissed him back. Otogi wrapped his arms around Kaiba's neck and deepened the kiss, told him that it would be alright in the only way he knew and comforted him through sheer physical contact. He could sense Kaiba was hesitating and took it slow, allowing the other brunet to relax, since that seemed to be what he needed.

There was a sudden roar outside. Suddenly flashes went off everywhere and Otogi could hear people shouting and yelling to be heard over each other. Otogi's eyes snapped open and in an instant, he backed off and pulled Kaiba away from the window – their lips still nothing but millimeters away from each other. They hid together behind the wall but could still hear the reporters outside going crazy.

Otogi was panting slightly out of the pure shock, but couldn't help but laugh lightly.

"Yeah, in hindsight that might not have been the best thing to do," he said and gave Kaiba a silly smile. It took a moment, but then he actually got a tiny smile back. Otogi's smile broadened and he leaned in to rub the tip of their noses together. "You can't stay sad when I'm around, can you?" he whispered and kissed the corner of Kaiba's mouth.

"I can't, damn you," Kaiba said, but without any real anger in his voice.

Otogi closed his eyes as Kaiba tenderly kissed his forehead.

* * *

><p>For the first time in many years – not counting the time he had screwed up and had to apologize to Otogi – Kaiba was nervous. He had a ball of anxiety in his stomach and he knew his breathing was faster than usual, yet he couldn't bring himself to relax.<p>

Everything was his fault. He had screwed up yet again and now his and Otogi's relationship was endangered. He had tried to end things with Haruka in a smooth, friendly way, but she was way too paranoid for her own sake and had started prying in his and Otogi's affairs. It didn't take long before she found out that they had been seeing each other for months now, and she immediately put together two and two.

She had gone to the media and told them how he was cheating on her – with another _man_. They believed her as well; everyone had seen Kaiba and Haruka out on the streets and in different restaurant, and if you only gave them a quick glance they seemed perfectly happy with each other. But if you looked again, their conversations were nothing more than friendly and they rarely discussed anything but business.

It was different when he was with Otogi. They would talk about anything. He would admit, however, that in the beginning they stuck to professional matters as well, but that faded away quickly. With Otogi's randomness and his love for talking you never knew which subject he'd bring up next. Kaiba, of course, loved it.

Kaiba's first response to the accusations had been to completely deny everything. Otogi had stopped him, and Kaiba realized that… Haruka was right. Not about him cheating on her, but about him cheating. He had cheated on Otogi, since he loved him and always had. He cared for Haruka, but he had never loved her, and because of that he couldn't see what he had done as cheating. Otogi agreed, and said that maybe it was time to tell people the truth.

"Are you okay?" he heard behind him.

"I'm fine."

"Seto…" Otogi said warningly.

When he turned around Otogi was standing there with a slightly worried face, but with his hands placed on his hips. He wasn't wearing his usual red outfit, but a tailored white suit with a pale blue shirt underneath. It wasn't buttoned up the whole way and showed off his collar bones as well as a golden chain he had around his neck. He was holding some papers as well, reminding him of what they were about to do.

"Hrm. A bit nervous," Kaiba admitted. Otogi's expression softened, and he walked up to him.

"It's gonna be alright," he said and caught the collar of Kaiba's shirt, using it to pull himself up and press their lips together. Kaiba let out a sigh in contentment – this was where he belonged. "Okay?" Otogi wondered once he broke away.

"Okay."

They were standing in Kaiba's hall, not far from the front door, simply waiting for the press conference to begin. They had decided that it would be held just outside the Kaiba mansion, on his front law as a matter of fact. It was easier that way – they could control who got in and out of the area and if something went wrong they could simply flee into the house. Kaiba seriously doubted Otogi would ever flee from something like that, though. He felt as if the dice-master was stronger than him during this whole thing, and that was an odd feeling since he was used to always being the strongest one. He couldn't say he complained, though – if something went wrong he had Otogi there to support him.

Besides themselves there were only a few people standing there with them. They were all Kaiba's employees, since Otogi basically never had any. He didn't bother with that since his company was small enough for one man to run, but he had spoken to Kohaku on the phone only a couple of minutes ago and his adoptive-father had assured him everything would be just fine.

Matsumoto appeared out of nowhere with her usual notepad and pencil at the ready, shoving a copy of the speech into Kaiba's hands. She had a brand-new headset in honor of the important day.

"Now, the press conference will start in exactly four minutes and all the TV stations are ready. Only one reporter is missing but there's a traffic jam downtown and we suspect he's caught up in in. Do you have everything you need?" she said quickly and pushed Otogi out of the way without hesitating in order to be able to adjust Kaiba's tie. "We have a mic-check in one minute and the security has just told us that a few fangirls recently tried to get in, but they have everything under control now."

Otogi blinked twice and simply stared at her for a moment. Then he grinned as she proceeded to correct the sleeves of Kaiba's suit as well.

"Oh, I like her," he said.

"Thank you," Matsumoto replied and turned her head towards him, smiling briefly before turning her attention back to Kaiba. "Three minutes, Mr. Kaiba."

"Do you know if Haruka is here or not?"

"I don't believe Ms. Fujimoto will show up. She had an official interview with Sakura TV last night where she claimed she have no further interest in yours and Mr. Otogi's business."

"Thank you, Matsumoto." He smiled at her for a moment, letting her know that he didn't need her assistance at the moment, and she disappeared just as quickly again. "Don't encourage her," he said with a low voice, since she was still nearby. Otogi chuckled.

"Finally, someone else who knows how to deal with you."

Kaiba shook his head slightly, but was silently glad for the interruption. His nervousness had faded somewhat and he was happy there were people around him who actually knew what they were doing.

The three minutes Matsumoto had given them vanished far too fast. Before he knew it, Kaiba was standing right in front of the door. He could hear the expecting murmur of the crowd outside and vaguely wondered just how many reporters were out there.

Otogi appeared at his side.

"Are you ready?" he asked the dice-master. Otogi nodded briefly without meeting his eyes and Kaiba laid his hand on the handle of the door.

"Wait!" Otogi suddenly said and before Kaiba could ask what was wrong, the other brunet grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around, crashing their lips together. Kaiba let out a soft moan and didn't care about the fact that they were surrounded by people – he kissed him back just as passionately and suddenly everything felt right.

There was a slight cough somewhere close to them.

"We are now 15 seconds off-schedule."

Otogi broke away, slowly.

"Lighten up, Matsu," he said, without taking his eyes off Kaiba. The taller of the two couldn't help but smile a little. But then he forced himself to let go of Otogi completely and turned towards the door, opening it before he could change his mind.

The flashes and the roar from the reporters nearly blinded him and made him deaf for a moment. But then he felt a reassuring hand on his back, guiding him up to the rostrum. No one noticed the secretive body contact as Kaiba and Otogi waited for the reporters to settle down at least a little bit.

"Good morning," Kaiba said with a loud voice once they were more or less done. The remaining noise died down and the crowd went dead silent. "I know you're all here to hear the truth, and that is exactly what you'll get, whether you like it or not.

The truth is that what Ms. Fujimoto said is merely a part of the whole story. Long before she and I even met I was seeing Oto–" Kaiba interrupted himself, gazed over at Otogi, who was watching him with a cautious expression, and changed his mind. "Ryuji. At first our relationship was purely professional and we were going to arrange a cooperation between our companies, focusing on trying to develop a sort of duel disk for DDM."

He took a deep breath, and swallowed once. "However, I noticed over time that I found it harder and harder to stay away from Ryuji and we started seeing each other during our free-time as well, for our personal pleasure.

I didn't realize it until it was far too late, but I fell in love with Ryuji during this time."

Even if the media had managed to stay quiet up until now, this was definitely too much for them to handle. Flashes went off, the reporters desperately tried to get closer despite the security guards and everyone spoke at the same time. Kaiba, however, continued speaking, his voice booming out over the crowd and drowning out every other sound.

"By the time I realized this I was already dating Ms. Fujimoto, and I thought I had pushed Ryuji away forever. I didn't think it was possible, but somehow he still found it in his heart to forgive me for all the mistakes I had done and take me back once more. It is true that I was cheating on Ms. Fujimoto, but the truth is that I was cheating on Ryuji long before that. I care for Ms. Fujimoto and I wish her all the best, but I love Ryuji and I always will."

During the complete chaos that followed Kaiba looked out over the reporters and couldn't help but feel satisfied with himself – he had definitely gotten his point across. However, he didn't notice the fact that Otogi was watching _him_, and not the crowd.

The dice-master felt such a strong admiration for Kaiba at that one moment a part of him knew he would never be as strong as him. But he didn't mind – in a way he liked that; he liked knowing Kaiba would always be there to protect him. And the fact that he had simply gone up there and told all those reporters that he loved him… If Otogi ever had any doubts he wasn't serious, those were definitely blown away now.

Kaiba met his eyes for a moment, gave him a smile that no one else noticed, and backed off a little, allowing him to step up to the rostrum instead. The chatter of the reporters died down again, and Otogi cleared his throat.

"What Seto said is the truth. What started out as a mere cooperation between our companies ended up in something much bigger, much more complicated. I know we have been secretive about our relationship and I know we have done a lot of things people had the rights to know about, especially Ms. Fujimoto. We never meant to harm her, or anyone else, and the simple reason we didn't come out with our relationship is because we were unsure ourselves.

You may see us as nothing but the CEOs of the businesses we run, but we are humans as well. We have feelings, struggles, hopes and dreams, and trying to keep all those things private while running a multi-million, or billion," he added with a slight roll of his eyes, which earned him a few snickers from the audience, "dollar company isn't the easiest thing to do. Most of the time it results in us simply trying to push it away, to forget about it and to focus on our businesses.

But we need time to be human as well. Seto and I found love, albeit in an unexpected place, but that doesn't mean it's not the truth or that we don't have the rights to share it. I love Seto with all my heart, and that's the truth."

"And that's all," Kaiba added, and with those words both him and Otogi walked off the stage and into the house again, leaving all the reporters behind, shouting and yelling for a special interview or for them to have their picture taken. Neither of them cared. They had said what they wanted to say, and now everyone knew the truth.

* * *

><p><strong>One year later…<strong>

Kaiba picked up a single strawberry from the tray, dipped it in chocolate after a moment's hesitation, and brought it up to Otogi's lips. The dice-master took half of it in one bite and then motioned for the other brunet to eat the rest, which he did.

"I'm going to get fat," Otogi complained. Kaiba couldn't help but smile. He couldn't imagine Otogi getting fat, _ever_. But then his smile turned into a smirk.

"More to love."

"Shut up!" Otogi said, clearly offended, but he couldn't keep a smile off his face. "You… you idiot." Kaiba leaned in and thoroughly kissed him to keep him from complaining further. They were sitting in the couch in Otogi's living room, surrounded by candles, trays of fresh fruit and berries, and with a small chocolate fountain standing on the small table nearby.

In the beginning it felt almost strange, but despite Kaiba's mansion being a whole lot bigger they often found themselves spending more time in Otogi's average-size apartment. It seemed much more intimate and personal. Mokuba was still in the US, studying, and Kaiba's mansion was far too big and empty. Plus, Otogi was convinced there were ghosts, which – due to all the things they had seen – Kaiba couldn't quite dismiss as his imagination alone.

The time after the press conference had been a hectic one. There had been constant phone calls, interviews and even more press conferences. Matsumoto and Kohaku had been amazing and helped them out whenever they could, but in the end everything was up to Otogi and Kaiba. At times they had fought. Both of them had cried. Sometimes Otogi had been afraid it wouldn't work out – that despite everything they had gone through, or because of it – they would break up.

In the end they always found that they couldn't stay mad at each other, and that they always came back to each other. They loved each other, and nothing they went through could change that.

Kaiba let out a sigh in contentment as he finally broke away from Otogi's lips. The dice-master slowly opened his eyes and yet again Kaiba was amazed over how incredibly green they were. He'd never get tired of that sight.

"I love you," Otogi whispered against his lips.

"I love you too," Kaiba replied and closed his eyes for a moment as Otogi's lips ghosted across his face, leaving gentle kisses on his cheeks, chin, forehead and nose. The other brunet climbed up onto his lap and wrapped his arms around his neck, not kissing him, but rubbing the tips of their noses together in a way that made Kaiba grin without being able to stop himself. Kaiba snuck his hands under Otogi's shirt and gently stroked his soft skin – during the past year he had learned ever dip and curve of his body, and he loved it all.

They were finally together, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Aww c':  
>I want to thank everyone for supporting me with this story! So many more people than I thought liked it, which made me really happy! Thanks to Luna, Hachiseiko, DJRena, XXXXAnimeXXLuverXXXX, Annalis Sutcliff, xVampirexElegancex, mofalle and yugisun for reviewing! :'D<p>

I really feel like writing a one-shot sequel or a drabble-collection now xD  
>We'll see ^^<p>

Until then, thanks again and good-bye my darlings~!


End file.
